Putin to US: It’s bad to read other people’s letters
President Vladimir Putin says it was “strange” to learn of the US reaction on a Russian letter to the leaders of EU’s top gas-consuming nations, as it was in no way designed for Washington’s eyes.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has accused Russia of
reneging on an agreement that offered reduced gas prices to Kiev
and using “energy as a tool of coercion against
Ukraine.”
The price Ukraine is currently paying is “clearly not set by
market forces and well above the average price paid by EU
members,” she added.
“It’s a bit strange,”Putin said after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
informed him of the US comments during a Russian Security Council
meeting. “It’s strange, at any rate, as it’s bad to read
other people’s letters. It wasn’t addressed to them, but the
consumers of gas in Europe.”
“Everybody is used to the fact that our American friends are
eavesdropping, but turning to peeping is shabby altogether,”
he said.
But, joking apart, the pricing on gas for Kiev is regulated by the contracts Russia’s Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz signed back in 2009, Putin said.
He added that he wrote his letter because “Russia can’t carry
the Ukrainian burden alone,” urging the European leaders to
hold a joint meeting as soon as possible “to find ways to
help and support the Ukrainian economy.”
“Handing out cakes at the Maidan isn’t enough to prevent the
Ukrainian economy from plunging into complete chaos,” he
said.
The comment dates back to a PR stunt by US Assistant Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, who
tried to feed snacks to protesters and police as she visited Kiev
during the standoff in December last year.
In his letter Thursday to European countries including France,
Italy, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland and Romania,
Putin warned that Ukraine’s debt crisis had reached a
“critical” level and could threaten gas transit to
Europe.
Russia’s Gazprom will be forced to ask Ukraine for advance gas
payments due to the accumulated $2.2 billion gas debt owed by
Ukraine’s Naftogas, Putin said.
“We’ll be supplying exactly the volume of gas that Ukraine
pays for a month in advance,” the letter said.
Following the coup in Kiev, Gazprom has revoked all discounts and
now charges $485 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, a price Ukraine
says it will not be able to pay because it threatens Ukraine's
ability to continue normal gas transit operations to Europe.
