Oekraïne belooft EU rustig te blijven met betrekking tot conflict Rusland (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko has promised the EU he will not upset the new Russia gas entente, as Kiev seeks to repair ties with Brussels following the energy crisis.

"I am particularly grateful for the reassurances I just received that he fully stands by the agreement reached on the resumption of gas supplies," European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso i said after meeting Mr Yushchenko in the EU capital on Tuesday (27 January).

Russian firm Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz last week signed a 10-year contract on Ukraine gas supplies, ending a New Year dispute that saw Russia turn off EU gas supplies via Ukraine for 13 days.

The contract is economically risky for Ukraine, obliging it to buy set volumes of Russian gas at EU-level prices even if internal consumption goes down.

It is also politically unhelpful for Mr Yushchenko. Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko brokered the deal directly with Moscow, making him look weak as he prepares to run against her in upcoming presidential elections.

Nerves jangled in Brussels on Monday when Mr Yushchenko's energy advisor, Bohdan Sokolovsky, said the Gazprom-Naftogaz contract may be invalid if it was signed under duress.

"The agreement signed is not an easy one," Mr Yushchenko said alongside Mr Barroso on Tuesday.

Ukraine diplomats are worried the EU will punish Ukraine for its role in the gas dispute, by slowing investment or negotiations on a free trade pact and new "Association Agreement."

But despite railing against Kiev's broken promises last week, Mr Barroso reiterated his support for a March donors' conference in Brussels to renovate Ukraine's ageing pipeline system.

"In our bilateral relations we are not taking any negative consequences," he said.

EU foreign ministers gathered in Brussels on Monday also took a sympathetic line toward Kiev at a lunchtime debate on the gas dispute.

'Show of strength"

"One or two countries expressed strong dissatisfaction on how Ukraine behaved," a minister from one of the post-Communist EU countries told EUobserver. "But everybody shared the view that the degree of responsibility was different - it was Russia that stopped the gas supplies first and foremost, and they did this as a show of strength."

Ministers decided to press ahead with talks on a new partnership treaty with Russia and the association pact with Ukraine in the hope the new agreements will encourage Moscow and Kiev to abide by international law.

The lunchtime discussion also raised concerns about Russia's ability to meet internal and export demand in future due to under-investment in new gas fields.

"If the Russians don't get foreign firms in to quickly increase capacity, then one harsh winter could soon force them to choose between domestic and foreign customers," the EU minister said.