Viktor CHERNOMYRDIN: “Don’t Worry about Bakai”

Last Thursday Russia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Viktor Chernomyrdin, added some “pep” to Russian- Ukrainian relations, delivering tough talk on three issues: the gas price hike, the Black Sea Fleet base, and Ihor Bakai’s Russian citizenship.

The ambassador forecasts a rise in Russian gas prices for Ukraine. “I think prices will be growing in any case. The point is how they will grow — all at once or by fits and starts,” he announced. The ambassador also noted that the two countries’ governments may well negotiate regulation of these prices. He added that, although agreements on fuel supplies are usually concluded on a long-term basis, this does not apply to prices. “Everything is on a long-term basis but the price. The price is stipulated for every year in intergovernmental agreements,” the diplomat emphasized.

Mr. Chernomyrdin also revealed that the problem of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine will be tackled by the Yushchenko-Putin Commission. “At the initiative of our president (Vladimir Putin — Ed.), the state commission headed by the two presidents is forming a committee on security, which I think will deal with this issue,” the ambassador said. “There is a letter from our president, Mr. Putin, not from the President of Ukraine, in which he stresses that we must sit down and discuss all the problems related to the Black Sea Fleet base. We should have no complaints about each other. We don’t need any.”

Russia’s ambassador also confirmed that Ihor Bakai, former presidential property manager, is a Russian citizen. Mr. Chernomyrdin said he knows that Mr. Bakai was granted Russian citizenship in early 2005. He recalled that the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office recently confirmed this fact to its Ukrainian counterpart. “And we protect our citizens. So don’t worry about Bakai,” the ambassador said. According to Interfax-Ukraine, after this remark the Minister of Youth and Sport Affairs, Yuriy Pavlenko, who also attended the press conference at the National University of Physical Culture and Sport, asked Mr. Chernomyrdin, “Do you also protect criminals?” “It depends,” the Russian ambassador said. “We don’t usually protect criminals. Where criminals and all kinds of wrongdoers are concerned, we must do everything according to the rules.”