Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, who reached a natural gas price deal yesterday with the Russian Premier Putin, believes that governors who withhold payments for gas are undermining Ukraine’s independence.
She made this statement during a meeting with governors or Thursday, January 15.
“Every governor who doesn’t pay for gas is putting Ukraine on the line and undermining it energy independence,” Tymoshenko said.
She announced that based on the results of the meeting she will give the governors instructions on this matter. “Look for reserves, look for possibilities, but pay for gas,” she said.
She used the situation in Kyiv as an example.
“Kyiv will soon owe Kyivenerho 1 billion (hryvnias). Maybe you can tell us where that money should be taken from. Maybe it’ll simply fall from the sky so that it can be used to pay Russia,” Tymoshenko complained.
She noted that under such conditions, Naftohaz clearly paid Gazprom.
“If you don’t pay for gas, Ukraine will not have independence,” Tymoshenko appealed to the governors.
Tymoshenko also criticized a number of oblasts for considerable drops in production in 2008.
The record holder was the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, where production dropped 21.5%, while in the neighboring Ternopil oblast production grew 10.4%.
Tymoshenko blamed the work of the local government for such figures.
She called on the governor and mayors of cities in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, as well as the Poltava oblast, which also experienced a sharp drop in production growth, to use immediate measures to change the situation.
Information from Ukrayinska Pravda, UNIAN. Reprinted from Yulia Tymoshenko's personal webiste.
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