Ukraine tries to assuage EU fears over Gazprom row[fr][de] 

In a statement on 4 October, Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said he was informed by Ukrainian Energy Minister, Yuriy Boiko in a phone conversation that the issue of payments for gas between the companies involved will be solved by 1 November. 

According to the statement, Boiko confirmed Ukraine’s commitment to be a reliable transit country for gas to the EU.

“Transparency is capital in our relations with gas supply and transit countries,” Piebalgs said adding that he expected the issue to be solved by 1st of November.

Russian energy giant Gazprom had threatened on 2 October to cut gas supplies to Ukraine unless it settled an unpaid $1.3 billion bill. The new dispute is reminiscent of the 2005 gas row that followed the ‘Orange Revolution’, and raised fears that European gas supplies could be affected.

But Gazprom tried to avert such worries, stating after a meeting with Boiko on 3 October that “the Ukrainian Government will take control of solving the problem in the aim of paying accounts for gas delivered until 1 November”.

Meanwhile, with 99.9% protocols counted, the election results show that the pro-Western camp is in the lead. Even though the Party of the Regions led by pro-Russian Prime Minister with 34.4% won most of the votes cast, but the “orange” block of Tulia Tymoshenko (30.7%) along with President Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defence Party (14.2%) have a slim majority. The pro-Western parties began talks on forming a government coalition on 4 October.