Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that Kyiv's position on the gas issue will have a negative impact on Ukraine's own economy first and foremost.
During a meeting with Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Gazprom CEO
Alexei Miller, Medvedev said that Kyiv’s position “smells of
blackmail.”
During gas talks, the European Commission urged Ukraine to pursue a constructive approach.
Gazprom’s Miller also said that the position of the Ukrainian side could be described as “blackmail.”
“They [Kyiv authorities] were given very privileged conditions, even
if one compared them with the period of gas cooperation during the
previous presidency [Yanukovych]. Nevertheless these conditions did not
comply with those conditions and, in effect, they artificially created a
gas crisis,” the Russian prime minister said.
“This is deplorable. This truly smells of blackmail, as you already
said, but I think that in the end this will harm the Ukrainian economy,”
he said.
He said that in his opinion “these are absurd, irrational actions”.
