The fault line in European gas security that runs between Ukraine and Russia looks set for ongoing instability, despite the supply agreement reached in January between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has attacked the agreement, arguing that it could reignite the stand-off between the two countries that saw a near three-week gas supply disruption between Russia and the European Union via Ukraine early in the year.rnThe agreement for the first time introduced a special formula to calculate prices for gas that Ukraine would have to pay Russia each quarter, replacing a system in which yearly prices were negotiated between Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and the Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz at the end of each year - a system that led to near annual crises.
展开▼
