"We envisage a three-sided approach to modernisation: the participation of Russia, the EU and the Ukrainian side," Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov announced in Kiev on 2 April.
"Russia has been in favour of such cooperation all along," Chizhov said, welcoming the fact that the new statements from Kiev appeared to reverse a March 2009 agreement signed between the European Commission and then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which excluded Moscow (see 'Background').
'Botched' declaration
This "botched" declaration, as Chizhov called it, had seen the light despite the fact that the idea of creating a tripartite consortium between Ukraine, Russia and Germany to revamp the Ukrainian gas transit system had already been floating around for several years, he said.
"Now if it is Ukraine, Russia and the EU, so much the better," Chizhov said.
Planning any large-scale projects in this area requires the cooperation of all the parties involved, the Russian diplomat added.
"When last March this declaration was signed between the European Commission and the then government of Ukraine for the modernisation of the gas transit system of Ukraine, without any Russian participation: that produced many questions. The intention was to increase the capacity, but nobody asked Russia if Russia had the gas. Nobody asked the consumers in Europe whether they needed the gas. This was quite an artificial endeavour," Chizhov declared.
Asked if projects designed to circumvent Ukraine, such as the Gazprom-favoured South Stream gas pipeline, were losing importance in the context of improved relations between Moscow and Kiev, Chizhov denied that Russia had been pushing forward projects intended to bypass Ukraine.
"No projects have been designed to circumvent Ukraine. Nobody in Russia said that the gas transportation system of Ukraine should be shut off or dismantled. On the contrary, we proceeded on a long-term prognosis of an increase in gas consumption in the Western part of Europe," he said.
Long-term prognosis
The Russian diplomat admitted that there had been a drop in demand for gas as a "temporary" result of the world economic crisis, but insisted that his country was working on the assumption that gas consumption in Western Europe would increase in the long run.
"In Europe, nothing can compete with pipeline gas. You can talk endlessly about LNG, but in Europe, pipeline gas will always be cheaper," the Russian ambassador said.
Chizhov appeared to dismiss the potential for shale gas, which is currently being developed in the USA, to bring down gas prices.
"There was speculation about the so-called 'discovery' of shale gas, particularly in the US. But there was not much to discover, because shale gas was there all along, and the technology was there. The news is that with the higher prices of gas, it has become an economically viable option, also responding to the desire of the US to limit its dependence on imported energy," the ambassador commented.
