During the meeting with the Serbian president Tomislav Nikolić, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin stated that if Ukraine steals gas, he will have to cut down gas supplies for the European countries. Let us recall, that Russian fuel is transiting Ukraine to reach the European buyers. According to Vladimir Putin, except for the transit risks there are no other reasons for the possible restrictions; Russia is able to fulfill its liabilities. “If we see that our Ukrainian partners – as in 2008 – start siphoning off our gas from the export pipeline system in an unauthorized manner then we will also – like in 2008 – gradually reduce supplies by the amount that has been stolen,” Putin announced. Kiev, in its turn, cannot provide such guarantees. The Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk talked about this during the meeting of Cabinet of Ministers. “Ukraine declares that we are a state that guarantees uninterrupted transit of natural gas, but in order to guarantee it, we need to sign an agreement with European companies,” Yatsenyuk said. The European Union is worried about the looming winter. Günther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Energy, said that within next six month, problems with gas supplies can arise. For example, Finland and Estonia may not receive about 60% of fuel. Ukraine gets fuel through reverse from the East European countries. Last time Russia reduced gas supplies to Europe because of the Ukrainian siphoning off was in early 2009. Back then, the situation resolved by signing an agreement between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian premier of that time.
