A Deal Far from Done; Ukrainian Orthodox-Moscow Patriarchate Jumps in Bed with CPU

GAZPROM CONTINUES TO ACCUSE UKRAINE OF STEALING GAS. Gazprom said in a statement on 26 January that Ukraine siphoned off 326 million cubic meters of Russian transit gas from 19-25 January, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. "The cold snap has shown thatUkraine is the only transit state that flagrantly violates international gas business conventions," the statement reads. "It means a total absence of control in Ukraine's energy sector." JM

DELAYS IN UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN GAS DEAL ATTRIBUTED TO JOINT VENTURE.Ukraine's Anti-Monopoly Committee said on 26 January that it has so far received no information from either Naftohaz Ukrayiny orRosUkrEnergo that it needs to give a go-ahead to the creation of a joint venture by these two companies for selling gas in Ukraine, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. In accordance with a framework gas deal signed by these two companies and Gazpromearlier this month, Naftohaz Ukrayiny and the Swiss-basedRosUkrEnergo are to create a joint venture responsible for selling gas in Ukraine. The signing of a specific contract on gas deliveriesto Ukraine in 2006 has already been postponed twice (see "RFE/RLNewsline," 25 January 2006). JM

The above are from the RFE/RL newsline for Eastern Europe; you can subscribe by going to the RFE site listed in the links section.

"Ongoing Gas Troubles" editorial from the Kyiv Post here.

This news blurb from RFE is not about gas, but love the twist of logic. . .

UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH GROUP TO BACK COMMUNISTS IN ELECTIONS. Orthodox Choice, an organization formed by the Society of Orthodox Brotherhoods of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate),will support the Communist Party in the parliamentary elections on 26March 2006, Interfax-Ukraine reported on 27 January, quoting Societyof Orthodox Brotherhoods head Valentyn Lukiyanyk. Lukiyanyk reportedly said the Communist Party's principles are close to Orthodoxy in spirit. Lukiyanyk noted that such political organizations as Our Ukraine, the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc, the Socialist Party, and the People's Rukh are "anti-Orthodox." Orthodox Choice head Yuriy Yehorov claimed the Communist Party consistently defends Orthodox values and is "closer to the people." According to Yehorov, Orthodox Choice's cooperation with the Communists is basedon their similar sociopolitical agendas: combating illegal enrichment, seeking the unification of Slavic peoples, supporting the use of the Russian language in Ukraine, and opposing Ukraine's potential NATO membership. JM

I personally see only one properly spiritual element in the above list, the one pertaining to fighting "illegal enrichment" or unbridled exploitation of others; which means that Uki Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate in truth share a lot in common with each of the other parties they list as rejected as well. . .