Russia urges EU help to avert Ukraine gas crisis

(MOSCOW) - A senior Russian official appealed Friday for the European Union to enact "preemptive measures" to prevent another gas crisis in Ukraine this winter.

"We call for the European Union to actively join in a package of preemptive measures, including financial assistance, to ensure uninterrupted transit of energy resources through Ukraine," said Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's EU envoy.

His comments came two days after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fired a fresh warning shot at Ukraine, saying Moscow would cut supplies should Kiev attempt to remove Russian gas from its pipelines without paying for it.

Speaking from Brussels in a video link-up with journalists in Moscow, Chizhov said President Dmitry Medvedev would press this issue at the upcoming EU-Russia summit to be held in Stockholm next week.

Chizhov said that Ukraine was dragging its feet on liberalising its own gas market and was unlikely to meet demands from the International Monetary Fund to increase domestic tariffs any time soon.

"It would be out of the question to expect one of the presidential candidates in Ukraine to take this step lightly" on the eve of the election scheduled for January 17, he said.

He said Ukraine has gas reserves stored underground that are almost as large as the total reserves of all EU countries combined, but questioned whether Kiev would use those reserves to ensure uninterrupted transit to Europe.

"Either this will be used in the interests of transit, or it will be used in the interests of satisfying its own demand, at the expense of transit," Chizhov said. "This is the key question and it is primarily political."

Many factories in Ukraine are notoriously energy-inefficient and rely heavily on natural gas to function.

Fitch Ratings agency downgraded Ukraine's national long-term rating from "AA" to "AA-" on Friday as the ex-Soviet country continues to suffer from the effects of the global economic slowdown.

Next week's Stockholm summit comes at a "crucial moment for the EU" as the Lisbon Treaty comes into effect, Medvedev's top foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko said in comments reported Friday by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

He predicted that Russia would find dialogue with the EU "more predictable" after the treaty comes into effect.

"The EU isn't an easy partner for anyone, neither for the United States, nor for China, nor for Japan," Prikhodko said, quoted by ITAR-TASS.