Debts as a component of Ukrainian-Russian relationships still to be settled
Russia’s Gazprom intends to exact the cost of 1.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas illicitly siphoned off by Ukraine in the first half of 2000 through the International Permanent Court of Arbitration. Anatoly Podmyshalsky, deputy head of Gazprom’s gas supplies department, told Interfax Ukraine that the suit has already been filed.
“We previously registered Russian gas illicitly pumped by Ukraine after the fact, but now the law allows us to claim damages in court, so Gazprom did just that,” Mr. Podmyshalsky said, adding that “8.6 billion cu. m of gas was taken from supplies meant for Russia during the coldest period of 2000.”
He further announced that Ukraine’s unauthorized siphoning stopped in May 2000.
“If Ukraine pays,” Aleksandr Nemudrov, head of Gazprom’s gas supply department, told The Day on the phone, “there will be no lawsuit. We have suggested this more than once when working out various programs. Regrettably, there has been nothing from Ukraine so far. We have long put off negotiating the issue; we are tired of this. After all, the other side must meet us halfway, for we are up against the wall. If there is a problem it must be solved, and the parties must come to terms.” He further stated that the Ukrainian-Russian instruments signed last December have not as yet dealt with the set bureaucratic procedures in Ukraine. “We are three months into the year 2001, and there’s still no progress,” Mr. Nemudrov pointed out. “So we sign with one hand and with the other pretend nothing has happened. Anyway, I can tell you here and now that the Ukrainian side has done nothing to make the documents take full effect.”
Moscow wanted to sue Ukraine for unauthorized gas siphoning at the international level last November. At that time the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that the Ukrainian government cannot act as the respondent in a Gazprom vs. Naftohaz Ukrayiny lawsuit. After both presidents met and signed bilateral instruments guaranteeing Russian gas passage to Europe there has been no mention of a lawsuit.
But the problem is still there, although The Day’s experts are divided on the issue. One says Ukraine won’t get away and will have to pay if so ruled by the court. Another believes that Gazprom’s claim does not pose any special threat; it is just a wedge to be used during the talks and can be written off as a political maneuver. He quotes Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying after the Dnipropetrovsk summit in February, “We believe that disputable matters in the energy sector have been solved; they are settled and all we need is place the right emphasis in the right place, primarily in securing Ukraine’s interests in terms of gas supplies, and Russia’s interests in having its gas transported to Western Europe.” The Russian president also described Ukraine as Russia’s most important partner, pointing to the high degree of confidence in bilateral relations; and that the Russian Federation attaches priority to relationships in the post-Soviet theater. However, he adds, if the claim is backed by an insurance company covering Gazprom’s unauthorized siphoning risks, the whole thing would acquire more serious dimensions.
Serhiy Tulub, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told The Day that the pending lawsuit (although he is convinced no government officials has seen any documentary proof of it) is explained by the desire to prompt Ukraine to respond. Simultaneously, he is certain that debts must be repaid, in order that the gas talks, now creeping at a snail’s pace, be given “dynamism and energy.” One is reminded of a recent Bloomberg report, stressing that Ukraine, being regarded by experts as one of the countries with the lowest political and economic managerial level, has stopped payments to foreign creditors without permission. The news agency’s inference that recent events point to the Ukrainian government losing support easily tallies with Gazprom’s conduct.
