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Letter | Doc. 10795 | 23 January 2006
Peril of using energy supply as an instrument of political pressure
We, undersigned members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
1. are worried about, after insufficient negotiations, the
unilateral decision of Gazprom, supported by the Russian state,
to radically decrease the gas supply towards Ukraine on 1st of January;
2. are convinced that it is unacceptable to use the gas supply
issue as a tool for influencing the internal politics of an independent
state, if not as a political tool to sabotage the so-called “Orange-revolution”
as well, and to harm the ambitions of an independent country to
move towards Western European structures;
3. are worried about general European gas supplies because
a significant part of the European gas supply is provided through
the very pipeline, which was closed towards Ukraine;
4. are worried that the decision of Gazprom, supported by
the Russian state, may result in an energy crisis in several Council
of Europe member countries;
5. are very concerned that the same tool may be used against
other states following a political course which is not in line with
Russian expectations, thus fearing that the use of energy supply
as a tool in politics may bring Europe to a new type of cold war;
6. noticed, at the same time, while Gazprom increased the
price of its gas to all of its customers, it made an exception for
Byelorussia. Byelorussia is the only country which pays the previous
year prices and according to the reasoning of this exception it
was mentioned that the plans for creating a joint federal state
between the two countries were considered;
7. believe that suppliers have, within a pragmatic, realistic
and reasonable bi- or multilateral framework, the legitimate demands
that clients pay world market price for their products, including
energy, such as gas;
8. are of the opinion that the increase of gas prices must
be done in a gradual way, as a result of negotiations among the
market participants;
9. call upon Gazprom to continue negotiations with Ukraine
on a gradual increase of the gas prices, which would enable Ukraine
to pay the negotiated prices;
10. call upon Ukraine to make sure that until a solution is
reached, all gas, the destination of which is other countries other
than Ukraine, should flow undisturbed via the pipeline in Ukraine;
11. propose to the Assembly to hold an urgent debate under
the title of this document during the 2006 January part-session
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.