Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

KYIV, Oct 11 – In a letter to Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, President Leonid Kuchma has categorically forbidden the unauthorized siphoning of Russian natural gas being pumped across Ukraine to Central and Western Europe, or intended for underground storage facilities, the presidential press service reported on Tuesday, October 10, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

What the Interfax report said was a change in the president's opinion could be considered as a radical one if compared to his earlier widely-cited statement to Spiegel magazine: "Moscow is pumping over 130 billion cubic meters per year to the West through our country. What's an odd billion tapped off, compared to that?"

In the same interview, Kuchma said that illegal gas siphoning was initiated by Ukraine's government to avoid an energy crisis, although later Yushchenko denied that Kuchma had given such an order, according to the report.