Ukrainians angry about Russia gas dispute
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-04 09:03

Disgruntled Ukrainians thronged Bessarabsky Market in downtown Kiev in freezing temperatures Tuesday to buy electric heaters after a natural gas cutoff by Russia brought on by a pricing dispute.

The halt of Russian gas supplies that began Sunday has not yet caused major heating problems, but Kiev residents feared the two sides were far from a resolution. Russian and Ukrainian officials resumed negotiations Tuesday, with officials saying results of the talks would be made public midmorning Wednesday, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency.

Residents of the capital largely blamed Russia, which wants Ukraine to pay four times more for gas than it did last year.

"It's Russia's revamped imperialism behind all this. They believe that with the cutoff of gas they can dominate us," said Valentyn Vasilyev, 32, who was among those buying a heater.

"Thanks to Russia I am now wasting handsome money on an electric heater. But Muscovites will not win this time," said 46-year-old Olena Kostenko, wiping her nose as it started to snow.

A Ukrainian worker prepares to load empty gas containers at a gas station in the town of Brovary that works with small consumers such as householders, 20 km (12.5 miles) northwest of Kiev on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006.[AP]

For the vendor doing a brisk trade at the open-air stand, the gas dispute has been good news. He sold 10 heaters in less than an hour, for $21 each.

"I regret I didn't have more of these," said Yuriy, who gave only his first name because he feared legal problems for selling unlicensed goods. "People are buying like crazy."

Nearby a poster read, "Do not buy Russian goods," and "Do not give money to Russian oppressors."

The cutoff also reduced gas supplies to Europe, which gets about a quarter of its gas from Ukraine, though the European countries most affected — Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia — reported supplies were back to normal Tuesday.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack criticized Russia for "the use of energy for political purposes."

Noting that Europe was in the midst of winter's cold, McCormack said the decision by Russia to restore most of the gas it had withheld Monday to European countries "does not resolve the issue,"

The gas dispute highlights Ukraine's dependence on Russia as the key supplier to its energy inefficient industries. It also demonstrates Russia's opposition to Ukraine's attempts to break out of the Kremlin's sphere of influence and join the European Union and NATO.

Ukraine's tilt toward the West since President Viktor Yushchenko took office a year ago has irritated the Kremlin.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has characterized the gas dispute as an attempt by Moscow to wreck Ukraine's economy as the country tries to integrate into Western Europe.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov points to a map of Ukraine during a meeting on gas issues in Ukraine's capital Kiev, January 2, 2006. [AP]

Some Ukrainians, however, mainly pensioners with strong emotional ties to the former Soviet Union, still believe the country's future lies in the renewal of centuries-long economic, ethnic, religious and cultural links with Russia.

"What are we without Russia? A wasteland, nothing. You argue with a bear and it will ultimately eat you," retired army officer Mykola Kostenyk said.

Many communities in Ukraine's west reported a decrease in gas supplies and local providers said they would stop heating schools during the winter holidays.

In the key western city of Lviv, several factories reported shifting from gas to coal or oil as their primary energy source.

On Tuesday, a pro-Russian opposition bloc loyal to Ukraine's first post-Soviet president, Leonid Kravchuk, demanded an urgent parliamentary session about the gas dispute and said a new caretaker government should be appointed until March parliamentary elections.

In a statement, Kravchuk's bloc said the current Cabinet, loyal to Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, "cannot be an effective participant in any talks with the Russian side, including the gas issue."

Yushchenko and his allies "took a deliberately hostile position toward Russia on a broad range of international issues," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the office of the prosecutor general ordered a probe into the activities of all companies responsible for storing and securing gas supplies throughout Ukraine and overseeing "all the activities related with rational use of energy," a statement said.