Yanukovych eager to create trilateral gas consortium if parliament supports him
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that he wants to create a trilateral gas transport consortium and added that he, however, won't make any decisions on the issue without the Ukrainian parliament's participation, according to the president's press service.
At a meeting with the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, and the faction leaders on Wednesday, the head of state said that the country's gas transport system (GTS) is being prepared for an upgrade aimed, first of all, at the maintenance of its technical reliability and support of its gas pumping capacity at a certain level.
According to the president, this could be achieved if the consumers, transit countries and gas suppliers unite their efforts.
"Today there is great willingness to create a Ukraine-Europe-Russia consortium," the president said.
He stressed that during talks on gas issues Ukraine never spoke in favor of the privatization of its gas transport system.
"Actually, the word 'privatization' was never used at any negotiations. We never used the word 'privatization.' These are rumors and speculations, probably, or even provocations," Yanukovych said.
