The Ukrainian government on Saturday decided to stop a partly Russian-owned intermediary company from its natural gas purchase deals, local media reported,
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said the National Security and Defense Council on Friday instructed the government to break up the contracts between the Ukrainian natural gas distribution monopoly Naftogaz and the Swiss-based trading company RosUkrEnergo.
Half of RosUkrEnergo is owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom and the rest by two Ukrainian businessmen. The deal has been in place since 2004.
Tymoshenko said that the process of breaking up deals with RosUkrEnergo would be "gradual," so as to avoid supply disruptions and price hikes on the domestic market.
Nearly all of Ukraine's gas imports come through Russia from the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan.
Ukraine is seeking to buy natural gas directly, which has caused clashes with Russia in the past. Moscow temporarily cut off gas supplies to Ukraine two years ago.
Source:Xinhua
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