Ukraine Threatens to Scrap Gas Transit Route

Ukraine on Wednesday fired another salvo to Russia, seeking a categorical assurance from the latter
and the European Union on the need for maintaining the existing transit system to pump Russian gas to
Europe, failing which it may be scrapped.

The measured caution came from a spokesman for Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in the wake of the
recent launch of the Nord Stream pipeline project that bypasses Ukraine and links Russia and EU via
the Baltic Sea.

"Since Russia is constructing pipelines bypassing Ukraine, Ukraine needs to get a clear answer as to
whether Russia intends to continue using the Ukrainian gas transit system," Azarov’s spokesman said.

"And if Russia is not going to use it, its maintenance will not be profitable for Ukraine, necessitating its
decommissioning or use elsewhere," he said.

Urging a response from EU, the spokesman said " If Ukraine stops the operation of its gas transit
system, it'll be a very high risk factor for Europe and the EU (member states) need to speak out on
their plans for the Ukrainian gas transit route."

Meanwhile, in another development, there has been a sudden thaw in the hitherto strained relations
between Turkmenistan and Ukraine following a series of meetings on Monday and Tuesday between the
nation's president Viktor Yanukovich and his Turkmen counterpart Gurnabguly Berdymuhamedov in
Ashgabat.

The meetings, sources say, produced an understanding to resume discount gas trade - after 2015, when
planned transcontinental pipelines around Russia are expected to go on stream.

Analysts believe it could be a Ukrainian design to sidestep Russia in international gas trade and compel the latter to reduce its gas price for Ukraine.

Turkmenistan, which holds the world's fourth largest gas reserves, formerly supplied gas to Ukraine in the 1990s and early 2000s in exchange for goods.

When Turkmenistan demanded hard currency in exchange, the relationship fell apart, with Turkmen gas producers redirecting their flow to buyers in China and Russia’s Gazprom

Source: RIA Novosti