Ukraine should return to direct shipments of Central Asian gas, the Front For Change leader Arseniy Yatseniuk has said, ForUm informs, referring to Interfax-Ukraine.
Yatseniuk said this in an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty Newspaper, the Front For Change's press service reported on Thursday.
"We are interested in pumping Central Asian gas into our pipeline. This is our money for transit. This is a source of imported gas for Ukraine that could be an alternative to Russia. This is in our strategic interests," the Front for Change leader said.
Yatseniuk criticized Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko for voicing support for the Nabucco pipeline project.
"This entails direct damage to Ukraine. The pipeline will go from Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to Europe, bypassing Ukraine, and our authorities are welcoming this. They are saying that this pipeline will diversify gas supplies to Europe. But how will this help Ukraine?"
He noted that the construction of the Nabucco pipeline poses the same threat for Ukraine as the construction of the Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea.
"Over the last five years we are actually pushing both Russia and Europe to start designing and building [a pipeline] bypassing Ukraine. This actually means additional costs for Russians, but they will benefit from it strategically. And this will be a strategic failure for us," the politician said.
Kyiv should be continually demonstrating to consumers from Europe and suppliers from Central Asia that it is more reliable, cheaper and more convenient to pump gas through Ukraine instead of welcoming and supporting the construction of a new pipeline bypassing Ukraine, Yatseniuk believes.
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