Wednesday April 29, 05:08 PM
Ukraine PM says gas tension with Russia easing
By Anna Smolchenko
MOSCOW (AFP) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday said Kiev and Moscow had put behind them disputes over their vital energy trade, after cut-offs in January affected a swathe of EU states.
Meeting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Tymoshenko said: "It is good that our cooperation is being fine-tuned.... It's good that the times when a certain confrontation was felt are becoming a thing of the past."
"The system of gas supplies in Ukraine has fully stabilized," she said.
Putin was also upbeat, saying as the two continued their talks: "What very much pleases me is that cooperation between certain rather sensitive and important industries and enterprises is not being destroyed but deepened."
The talks in Moscow were overshadowed by tensions between Russia and the European Union over the EU's growing role in Ukraine's energy transit system -- a key route for supplies of Russian gas to Europe.
In January relations between Moscow and Kiev plummeted to such a low that supplies via Ukraine were cut off, leaving a string of European countries temporarily without gas in the middle of winter.
Putin and Tymoshenko were initially due to meet in early April but Russia postponed the visit after Kiev and the EU signed a deal on gas infrastructure cooperation that left Russia feeling sidelined.
On Wednesday Tymoshenko sounded hopeful that a new dispute involving threatened financial sanctions by Russian gas giant Gazprom would be resolved.
Ukrainian officials said earlier that Gazprom was threatening to demand one billion dollars (750 million euros) in sanctions because Ukraine had been consuming Russian gas at below the agreed amount. Ukraine has sharply reduced its gas consumption due to the economic crisis.
Referring to the fines, Tymoshenko said: "We are finding understanding."
Her visit comes as European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs is also due in Moscow for talks on the bloc's gas trade with Russia.
A Russian newspaper reported earlier that Tymoshenko would present a plan to Moscow aimed at allaying Russian worries about the EU's growing role in Ukraine's gas transit system, notably the EU's insistence on greater transparency and access for other players.
The proposed plan involves efforts to build a in Ukraine and to restore another pipeline, bringing an increase in capacity of 30 billion cubic metres annually, the Kommersant daily said, quoting an aide to Tymoshenko.
Her visit comes amid energy tensions not only between Russia and Ukraine, but also between Moscow and the EU following the January gas crisis.
Piebalgs was due to meet the energy ministers of Russia and the Czech Republic, current holder of the EU presidency, after President Dmitry Medvedev put forward a new blueprint for restructuring energy relations with the bloc.
Kommersant reported that Piebalgs was likely to bear bad news for Russia, essentially deflecting Medvedev's proposals because they would reinforce Moscow's dominance of European gas supply.
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