MOSCOW, January 1 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine will be responsible for possible complications in Russian natural gas transit to European markets, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
"We expect Ukraine to ensure uninterrupted natural gas transit via its territory to European Union countries in line with its international obligations and take every measure to prevent gas flowing to Europe from being tapped," the ministry said in a statement.
The Foreign Ministry said Ukraine's gas transit obligations were stipulated in the European energy charter.
"Russia is confirming that beginning from January 1, 2006 it will maintain relations in the gas sector with Ukraine based on the European-level prices for gas and transit," the ministry said.
The ministry said Russia had put forward various market-based ways to settle the gas dispute. It offered a $3.6 billion loan to help Ukraine finance gas imports from Russia in 2006. The offer, however, was rejected by the Ukrainian president.
Russia made another major concession December 31 by agreeing to postpone a move to the market price for supplies and transit till the end of Q1 2006, the ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry said the protest Ukrainian diplomats filed December 3 showed that Ukraine was trying to shrug off responsibility for the problem. It accused Ukraine of "blackmailing" European countries by threatening to tap Europe-bound gas.
The ministry claims Ukraine is intentionally portraying Russia as an enemy and is, thereby, trying to influence internal political developments. The Foreign Ministry blamed Ukraine for the failure to reach agreement on gas supplies and transit.
Working to ensure energy security and economic cooperation at large in Europe, Russia will stick to existing contracts on gas deliveries with European partners, the ministry said, adding it hoped Ukraine would also fulfill its promise to ensure uninterrupted gas transit to Europe.
The gas dispute erupted when Gazprom, which is lifting the "ring fence" from around its stock to make it available for foreigners, said it was raising the price for Ukraine from the current $50 to a European-level price of $230 per cu m of natural gas, i.e. more than four times.
Ukraine that heavily depends of Russian gas has resisted the decision, saying the price hike for other former Soviet republics was considerably lower.
