MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - The United States is the leading force that organized the crisis in Ukraine, member of Russia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry committee on energy strategy and development of the fuel-energy complex Rustam Tankaev said Monday.
"The Ukrainian crisis is certainly a difficult and complex problem but the driving force that organized it was the United States," Tankaev said at a round table at Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency while discussing the results of the tripartite gas talks, which took place in Berlin on September 26.
"The United States has had two main areas of work. The first was to deliver a blow to Russia's economy... it is a powerful and complex blow to the economy. The second task was a blow to the economy of the European Union. The European Union is by far the biggest rival of the United States," he added.
Tankaev also touched upon the issue of sanctions, imposed by the European Union on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis and used a historic example when restrictive measures backfired on the party that imposed them.
"The Nabucco project, I will remind you, was an Iranian project. It was supposed to be a project that delivered Iranian gas to the European market and provided an alternative to Russian gas. Sanctions against Iran killed the Nabucco project and put Iran's gas industry under the control of China. As a result, who suffered from the sanctions? The European Union, eventually."
"And who will suffer from the sanctions against Russia, I think now it is now clear," Tankaev added.
REVERSE PRICE
The points of view on the price of reverse gas from Europe differed at the round table. Rustam Tankaev insisted that according to the information from "the partners from Hungary, Slovakia and Poland" the average price per thousand cubic meters was $400.75.
His Ukrainian counterpart, a former spokesman for the Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, Valentin Zemlyansky estimated the price at $360. "Based on the data of the Ukrainian customs service this price this year was about $360 until September. The price was not near [the level of] $400," he said.
In September, the head of Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev said the price of the reverse gas from Europe was at $370 per thousand cubic meters.
The price for the reverse gas is an important issue for both Russia and Ukraine as it directly affects the gas talks and gives Ukraine the understanding of an agreeable price for the Russian gas. According to Zemlyansky, Ukraine seeks for the lowest price possible.
Russia, Ukraine and the EU during the tripartite ministerial talks in Berlin on September 26 essentially agreed on a plan that would eliminate the risks for the transit of Russian gas to Europe this winter. Calculated for the period until the end of March the "winter plan" provides for the transfer of $3.1 billion by Kiev in the current year on account of debt and the delivery of 5 billion cubic meters of gas by Gazprom to Ukraine on a pre-payment basis at a price of $385 per thousand cubic meters.
The developed proposals are to be approved by the governments of Russia and Ukraine, while disagreements emerged even at the ministerial level: on the basis of the statements of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, Kiev does not agree with the proposed repayment schedule of $3.1 billion and with a mechanism for providing Russian prices on the current supply (by reducing the export tax).
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak reported earlier that the next trilateral EU, Russia and Ukraine meeting on gas may take place in Berlin on October 2 or 3.
