Testifying in the court today in the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, former First Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov said that former President Viktor Yushchenko intervened in the gas talks in 2009 between Gazprom and Naftohaz in order to prevent the removal of RosUkrEnergo from the gas market, according to the Official web site of Yulia Tymoshenko.
"In the morning of January 1, 2009, the Ukrainian delegation walked out of the talks in Moscow and the previously agreed contracts between Gazprom and Naftohaz weren’t signed. When we learned of this, we were very surprised and had to wait until Dubyna [former chairman of Naftohaz] contacted us. Once he did, he said this wasn’t his decision, but the decision of the president of Ukraine, who called right before the scheduled signing of the contracts and demanded that the delegation leave the negotiations," Oleksandr Turchynov said today in court.
He emphasized that the president didn’t have the authority to order the head of Naftohaz to do so.
Oleksandr Turchynov said that the Russian partners regarded such actions by the Ukrainian side as "political demarche and took a firm position on the issue of gas."
Oleksandr Turchynov highlighted that President Viktor Yushchenko had close ties to the co-founder of RosUkrEnergo, as evidenced by his political behavior. "A clear system of communication was established between one of the owners of RosUkrEnergo, Dmytro Firtash, and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. When the heads of the Ukrainian and Russian governments decided to work without intermediaries, RosUkrEnergo had only one argument – the position of President Yushchenko. There was no other reason other than the interests of RosUkrEnergo to disrupt the talks on December 31 [2008]," he said.
