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Ukraine Turns Down Russia's "Superbeneficial" Gas Offer - Russian TV

Posted on: Sunday, 1 January 2006, 03:02 CST

Text of report by Russian Channel One TV on 1 January

[Presenter] We'd like to begin with the most important news of the New Year's first day. Ukraine rejected the superbeneficial terms of gas supplies offered by Russia. Vladimir Putin had offered to keep the prices [on the Russian gas supplied to Ukraine] at the last year's level, 50 dollars per 1,000 cu. m., for the next three months if Ukraine signed the contract enacting market-defined prices since April. Gazprom's official spokesman, Sergey Kupriyanov, says the Russian gas concern received a rejection from the Ukrainians.

[Kupriyanov, captioned] Yesterday, the Ukrainians were offered a way out of the complicated situation in the gas sector. We were prepared to come to terms with the Ukrainian people and, maintaining our commitment to the market principles of bilateral relations, help maintain comfortable conditions for them during the most crucial from the point of view of energy supplies season, in winter.

Our proposals were turned down. We have had to begin to decompress the gas flows entering the Ukrainian gas transportation system. The export gas supplies [for the European consumers] is maintained at the normal level.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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