MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian prime minister-designate's comments on the need to revise gas agreements with Russia are an alarming signal to Europe, Russian energy giant Gazprom's official spokesman said Thursday.
Yulia Tymoshenko, set to become prime minister under a coalition government deal between three Western-leaning parties, said earlier in the day: "All agreements on gas supplies to Ukraine today call for further profound revision, and for construction in a friendly mode of new contractual relations with Russia and Turkmenistan."
But spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov labeled the statement as "threats that may lead to a new gas crisis."
"We believe that Yulia Tymoshenko's words again prove that Ukraine is regrettably the weak link in the chain of Russia's gas supplies to Europe," he said.
A price spat with Russia's Gazprom led to the energy giant cutting off supplies to Ukraine in early January, which led European-bound supplies of Russian natural gas in transit via the ex-communist country allegedly being siphoned off. Shortfalls in Europe were registered prompting fears that a similar situation could develop again this year.
Tymoshenko, who is known as the "gas princess" in her homeland for making a multimillion-dollar fortune out of the natural-gas business, has repeatedly criticized a deal struck with Gazprom in January, which set a price of $95 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas up from the previous $50.
