Putin Meets Ukraine Leader As Gas Talks Go Down To Wire

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday amid crunch talks on averting a cut in Russian gas supplies to the neighbouring state.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, right, shake hands in Moscow's Kremlin on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008. Russia's state-controlled gas supplier Gazprom gave neighboring Ukraine a reprieve of a few hours in a debt dispute, but still said it would stop sending gas to the country of 47 million on Tuesday if an agreement was not reached.
The pro-Western Ukrainian leader was greeted by Putin in the Kremlin as Russia's Gazprom energy giant extended until 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) a deadline for Ukraine to pay debts or have part of its gas supplies cut.

Yushchenko and Putin were also sure to discuss the fraught issue of Ukraine's efforts to join the NATO military alliance, something vehemently opposed by Moscow, the official newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta said.

The Kremlin announced that Putin had signed a law that reduces military cooperation, suspending the use of two radars in Ukraine by Russian forces. The law was described by Russian officials as a direct response to the ex-Soviet neighbour's efforts to join NATO.

Gazprom has threatened to end supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine if Kiev misses the deadline for paying a debt claimed by Moscow of 1.5 billion dollars (one billion euros).

The dispute echoes a pricing row in 2006 that led to gas supply disruptions across Europe after Gazprom cut all supplies to Ukraine, a transit route to the European Union.

This time the cut-off would only affect a portion of supplies and Gazprom says that deliveries transiting Ukraine to the European Union will not be disrupted.

Ukraine's economy, dominated by heavy industry, is highly dependent on imports of gas via Russia. Currently, about 75 percent of this gas is extracted in the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan and transported across Russian territory.

The threatened cut-off applies to the Russian-produced supplies, Gazprom said.

The size of the Ukrainian debt is disputed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

She has tied payment of the debt to her desire to simplify the murky system of intermediaries by which Ukraine pays for its Russian and Turkmen gas, a system inherited from an earlier Ukrainian government.

Russian newspapers portrayed Tymoshenko as the villain of the dispute and suggested Yushchenko was taking a more conciliatory role.

"Tymoshenko loudly promises to break off all contracts and raise transit fees. Yushchenko, who understands what that means for his country, is trying to calm everyone down," the Izvestia daily said.

The daily Vremya Novostei said that "Yushchenko... for the past few days has been trying to stop Tymoshenko in her intent to destroy gas ties between the two countries."

Tensions around Ukraine's NATO aspirations have grown as Kiev hopes NATO will approve a Membership Action Plan for Ukraine -- a formal step towards membership -- at the alliance's Bucharest summit on April 2-4.

Russian papers noted Ukraine had acquired a bargaining chip in relations with Moscow by receiving an invitation to join the World Trade Organisation.

Ukrainian membership will give Kiev influence over Moscow's own painfully drawn-out negotiations to join the global trade club, state daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta noted.

Source: AFP