Pro-Europese politiek Oekraïne onder druk na forse prijsstijgingen Russisch gas (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Ukraine fears that Russian gas price hikes could be aimed at swaying its March parliamentary elections, complicating the country's pro-EU drift.

"One may not exclude that this is exactly the intention. I cannot say for sure, but one cannot exclude it", Ukrainian foreign minister Borys Tarasyuk told MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday (8 December).

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is pushing Ukraine for gas price hikes from $50 per 1,000 cubic metres to $160 per 1,000 cubic metres.

The row has come to a head just as official campaigning for the March vote opened on 26 November, raising the spectre of higher household heating bills in winter.

Booming corruption and a drop in economic growth have put president Yushchenko's bloc on the back foot, with Mr Tarasyuk indicating that pro-Moscow parties currently hold 30-35 percent of the vote.

He added that Russia is trying to undermine EU-Ukraine energy relations, saying "There are some speculations coming from Moscow, trying to get the EU to think Ukraine will create problems for Europe, but this is not the case."

Almost all the EU's Russian gas imports are piped through Ukraine, accounting for 20 percent of EU gas consumption.

Individual member states' Russian gas dependence is higher, with Poland on 62 percent, Germany 40 percent and France 22 percent.

Politics or economics?

Russia claims the dispute is a purely financial matter, with Moscow saying on Thursday that Ukraine can afford to pay more after lucrative privatisations, IHT reports.

But Ukrainian officials disagree.

A Ukrainian diplomat explained that while Russia does not openly oppose Ukraine's EU and NATO membership bids, the price hikes are designed to show what happens when you leave the old circle of friends.

"This [the price increase] was no surprise. If we join NATO, they will reorient. They will treat us like an EU country even though we are not in the EU", the official said.

Ukrainian energy minister Ivan Plachkov told EUobserver that trade experts handling the gas talks face interference from politicians "who would like to involve global political issues."

Polish Lodz university politics analyst Przemyslaw Zurawski vel Grajewski remarked "It's obvious Gazprom is an instrument of Russian foreign policy, even one of the main instruments."

Thorn in Russia's side

Yushchenko supporter Mr Tarasyuk indicated one possible reason why post-Orange Revolution Ukraine is a thorn in Russia's side.

"We are promoting democratic values in the region. Ukraine has changed diametrically its position on human rights issues, and aligns itself with all policy statements of the EU", he said.

Despite corruption problems, Ukraine's new climate of transparency and free speech gives ammunition to NGOs such as Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Today, when Russia is going in the wrong direction with a new draft law on NGOs, which if adopted, would effectively close down all foreign NGOs in Russia, Ukraine is all the more important", Carnegie director Anders Aslund told Mr Tarasyuk on Thursday.