Russia 081231 Basic Political Developments
Ukraine says the money's in the pipeline...but Russia still waits
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- ‘European consumers will have their gas.’
- Legal issues
- Beltransgaz Managers Sent to Moscow for Talks With Gazprom
- Moscow tired of WTO accession talks
Ukraine says the money's in the pipeline...but Russia still waits...http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/35464 Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz says it has transferred more than $US 1.5 billion to a mediating company to settle payment for November and December. Russia's Gazprom, however, says it hasn't received the money yet. The Ukrainian President’s office and the gas monopoly Naftogaz have confirmed that the payment has been made. “It will be a hard cash payment in accordance with the current debt. This concerns payments for gas from November to December. After that we can say that the debt is settled, proceed with the contract and normalize our relationship with Gazprom,” Valentin Zemlyansky, Naftogaz spokesperson, said. As the money has not reached Gazprom yet, the Russian energy giant says it is still keeping the decision to cut supplies to Ukraine starting on January 1, 2009. “Gazprom has already created a command centre. It has started preparatory work for gas a turn-off. In the event that Ukraine goes to the European market price from the 1st of January 2009, then the price for gas will be $US 418 per 1,000 cubic meters,” Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller, said ‘European consumers will have their gas.’ Gazprom has held several video press conferences, including one with London, warning European consumers of possible gas supply disruption. Spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov has pointed to history, alerting to the possibility of Ukraine siphoning off Russian gas intended for European customers. “Looking at the way the Ukrainian partners are meeting their obligations on the supply contract, we can’t be 100% confident that they will perform their commitments on the transit contract in full measure. Gazprom will do its best to meet all the obligations to European partners," said Kupriyanov. Ukraine’s President Yushchenko, for his part, has stated no matter how the situation develops the supplies to Europe will stay unhampered. Legal issues Time is ticking away, with no agreement yet reached between Gazprom and Naftogaz. An October memorandum signed between Russia and Ukraine set December 31 as the date by which outstanding debts need to be paid. This must happen before a new contract can be signed. Gazprom says that cash-strapped Ukraine is unable to come up with the total $US 2 billion it owes, and it has proposed non-financial means to settle its debt. One involves payment with gas in Ukrainian storage. Another involves accepting the debt as prepayment for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe, for which Russia pays its neighbour. Market rumors suggest that Ukraine may be waiting for a better gas price later in the year. It is expected that gas prices will fall in the wake of the collapse in oil prices. Aleksey Bogatirev, Analyst at United Communication, says Ukraine has enough gas in storage to last about four months. “The current gas price is calculated according to a gas price formula based on the oil price over nine months. It is possible that gas prices will be lower, but to what extent is unknown. And by awaiting better prices, the Ukrainian government may create a disastrous situation in Ukraine, should gas reserves run out,” he said. Beltransgaz Managers Sent to Moscow for Talks With Gazprom http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2915241 Tuesday, December 30, 2008 6:54 PM (Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English) MINSK. Dec 30 (Interfax) - Beltransgaz General Director Vladimir Maiorov is due to arrive in Moscow before December 31 for talks with Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) on cooperation in 2009, Beltransgaz told Interfax. Beltransgaz Deputy General Director Tsvitomir Sorokhan said earlier that an additional agreement on the price of gas for Belarus in 2009 will be signed with Gazprom by December 31, 2008. According to earlier reports, the presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus last week reached an agreement on the principles of gas supplies and the payment for the Russian gas supplied to Belarus. The details of the agreement were not reported. Later, Lukashenko said he was happy with the outcome of the talks with Russia on the gas supply issue, saying the price for Belarus in 2009 will be "declining." "The price will be declining. It will drop 2.5-3 times in the period between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009, and the price in 2009 will be acceptable to us," said Lukashenko. Under the contract, the price for gas supplied to Belarus in 2009 is expected to reach 80% of the general price of gas supplied to Europe (minus the transport component) against 67% in 2008 and 90% in 2010. In 2011, Russia plans to supply gas to Belarus at the general European price. The price formula agreed upon in December 2006 is "pegged" to the cost of the equivalent oil products basket. The contract also provides that the gas price for Belarus can grow or decline by no more than 7% during the course of the year. (c) 2008 Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved. A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
In the past five years, Russian officials made regular announcements that we would join the World Trade Organization this year. But in 2008 Russia moved away from accession. Late last week, Moscow announced that it should either be allowed to join the WTO in 2010, or it will not honor related agreements and will strengthen the protection of its market from imports. That statement was a logical continuation of the Russian leadership's policy of toughening relations with the WTO and reviewing some of its related obligations. The Kremlin has again raised import duties on cars and trucks and cut poultry import quotas for 2009, although it had promised not to raise duties in previous bilateral agreements with individual WTO members. Tired of waiting for an accession permit, Russia has decided to disregard its commitments, possibly also because its new, tougher foreign policy has complicated accession talks with some WTO members. The war with Georgia and Moscow's recognition of Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence have complicated attempts to agree with the government of Mikheil Saakashvili on Russia's accession to the WTO. Now Moscow hopes it will be allowed to join the organization despite Georgia's disagreement. Russian analysts put Russia's losses due to non-participation in the WTO at $2-$5 billion. On the other hand, its gains in the first few years after accession could be smaller than the budgetary and business losses due to the lifting of customs limitations, especially during the global financial crisis. When the crisis reached Russia, the government adopted new measures to protect the market from imports, which was a step away from the WTO. Russia could abstain from joining the WTO in the current unfavorable international economic and political environment even if WTO members ask it to join them. Directory: gifiles -> attach attach -> British Forces – Akrioti, Greece Griffin Fighter Squadron (84 Squadron raf) MoD announced possible Typhoon and Tornado arrivals to the base France attach -> Russia 110204 Basic Political Developments attach -> Unclassified//for official use only attach -> Adaptability Sustainment attach -> Pop-up 1 ("C" Chechnya) Header Text: Emir of the Caucasus Emirate Doku Umarov Image attach -> Russia and Islam are not Separate attach -> Chapter 13: The Northern Caucasus attach -> Russia 100209 Basic Political Developments attach -> The evolution attach -> The devolution Download 153.97 Kb. Share with your friends:
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