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U.S. Reportedly Probing RosUkrEnergo


The directors of RosUkrEnergo, Oleg Palchikov (left) and Konstantin Chuychenko (file photo) (epa) April 21, 2006 -- "The Wall Street Journal" today reported that the United States is investigating RosUkrEnergo, a company supplying Russian and Central Asian natural gas to Ukraine.


Russian natural-gas giant Gazprom owns half of the Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo. Vienna-based Raiffeisenbank holds the other half of the company's shares on behalf of unknown investors.


The newspaper says representatives of RosUkrEnergo and Raiffeisenbank met recently with investigators in Washington to discuss the company's ownership.


The newspaper quotes unnamed sources that it says are familiar with the probe.


Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov, asked on April 21 about the "Wall Street Journal" report, said RosUkrEnergo is "absolutely transparent." He said all questions about its ownership "should be put to the Ukrainians."


Oleksiy Ivchenko, the head of Ukraine's state-owned Naftohaz energy company, had previously appealed to the United States to help it identify the owners of RosUkrEnergo.


In Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko has come under attack for giving RosUkrEnergo a central role in a deal with Gazprom early this year after Gazprom cut supplies in a price dispute.


(Reuters, "Ukrayinska pravda")

Russia's Gas Strategy

Russia's Gas Strategy



RUNNING HOT AND COLD The crisis over Russian supplies of natural gas to Ukraine that erupted on New Year's Day has implications that spread well beyond these two countries and will impact both economic and political policymaking throughout Europe. On January 19, RFE/RL's Washington, D.C., office hosted a briefing the examined the ramifications of the natural-gas conflict.

CLIFFORD GADDY, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, outlined Russia's "grand energy strategy," in which Ukraine is perceived as merely an obstacle frustrating Russia's energy ambitions in Western Europe and therefore a nonentity in Russia's broader strategic planning. According to Gaddy, Russia's strategic goal regarding energy is to maximize the role of its own energy resources in the world energy markets, so as to increase its geopolitical influence. To do this, it must reduce competition and maximize dependency on its own energy resources, as well as ensure a stable supply.

TARAS KUZIO, a visiting assistant professor at George Washington University, rebutted Gaddy's argument, claiming that Russia's actions evidenced a complete lack of geopolitical strategy and resulted in strong denunciations by Western countries and a loss of political allies in Ukraine. According to Kuzio, Russian President Vladimir Putin's desire to have a deal signed by the January 4 European Union energy summit outweighed his hope of reinforcing opposition to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko during the run-up to Ukraine's March 26 parliamentary elections.

RFE/RL Coordinator of Corruption Studies ROMAN KUPCHINSKY did not fully agree with Kuzio's assessments of Yushchenko or Ukraine. He outlined three major problems that are feeding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The biggest, he argues, is that the state-controlled Russian gas giant Gazprom holds a monopoly on natural-gas sales outside the CIS. Kupchinsky also decried Ukraine's consumption of natural gas, terming it "out of control." Corruption is also a major factor in the conflict, Kupchinsky said, although the extent to which it taints the deal struck between Russia and Ukraine remains unknown.


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