Russia's president said on Sunday a three-party deal to resume
Russian natural gas supplies to the EU via Ukraine should not be
fulfilled as Kiev had added new conditions to it, RIA Novosti reported.
Moscow and Kiev separately signed agreements with the European Union
this weekend to set up international monitoring at gas inlets and
outlets in both countries. Russia said it had to receive a copy of
Ukraine's monitoring document with the EU to resume supplies.
Ukraine put forward certain demands that run counter to Russia's
position when it signed the monitoring deal with the EU, adding a
handwritten note that attached an additional declaration to the
document.
"Such conditions make a mockery of common sense and are a violation of
agreements we reached earlier," President Dmitry Medvedev said. "Such
actions are meant to thwart the agreement to monitor the gas transits -
they are blatantly provocative and destructive."
"The text, to have it straight, provokes utter astonishment because it
partially contains false statements, including a theory that Ukraine
has not tapped any gas, and that all Russian gas was transited to
Europe, while its other half consists of statements running contrary to
the context of the agreement we signed with the European Union,"
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with the president.
Medvedev instructed Lavrov to "inform Russia's European partners that
they are facing quite a difficult situation, and that we would ask them
to hold talks with the Ukrainian government so that it drop the new
conditions."
The president said gas supplies would then be resumed. International
monitors are already arriving at gas transit inlets and outlets in both
Ukraine and Russia.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin slammed as unacceptable any amendments to
the gas transit deal signed by Russia, Ukraine and the EU.
Speaking by telephone to European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso, Putin said Kiev's new demands drastically changed the
three-party agreement and dealt with commercial disputes between Russia
and Ukraine rather than the transit of gas to Europe.
Putin also proposed sending Russian energy officials to a meeting of EU energy ministers set for Brussels on Monday.
"Our representatives are ready to voice and explain Russia's position in full," Putin told Barroso.
