Expert: Settlement of gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia lies in political plane
The gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia should be settled by specialists for whom national interests are above their personal interests, independent expert Oleksandr Narbut has said.
"Unfortunately, the solution to this problem lies in the political plane… Any reforms and actions are conducted by people. And if these people, I mean the current people, have a serious conflict of interest, i.e. they place commercial and personal interests above national, strategic interests, it's clear that nothing will be achieved. Therefore, other people are needed, [and] there are enough experts in the industry," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Saying that Ukraine will not revise its gas contracts with Russia in the near term, he said new difficulties in the negotiation process could arise in connection with the expiration of the Ukrainian-Russian intergovernmental agreement that provides guarantees for the supply of natural gas to Ukraine and its transit to Europe.
"The term of this agreement expires in January 2013... Therefore, we will have no interstate legal framework. The monopolist remains one on one with the Kremlin's instrument – Gazprom, and the situation will become more complicated, because there could be various games, including ones relating to the reliability of transit," Narbut said.
