Press cautiously welcomes gas deal

Ukraine accepted a deal on the EU-led monitoring of Russian gas transit

The press in Russia, Ukraine and Europe has generally welcomed an apparent breakthrough in the dispute between the two countries over gas supplies, although one Russian title feels the disagreement is far from resolved.

The European Union says Russia has promised to resume gas supplies through Ukraine on Tuesday morning.

Some commentators see this as a triumph for Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko over President Viktor Yushchenko, and also for EU unity.

Russian press

Yulia Tymoshenko was in high spirits yesterday. She felt like a winner. And not without grounds, since only the day before, the signing of the document which guarantees the resumption of Russian gas transit had been under question. Tymoshenko has won this battle and not so much against Russia as against Yushchenko.

The reasons why the talks are dragging on are clear... The economic aspect is important... The gas price is linked to the oil price. But it changes with approximately a six-month delay. And it is not in Ukraine's interests to sign a contract for a whole year using the price calculated on the basis of last year's peak oil prices. Russian motives, on the other hand, are rather of a political nature. In the run-up to elections in Ukraine, Moscow is doing all it can to undermine the reputation of the incumbent president.

It seems as if Ukraine has been forced into a gas peace... the main cause of the fuel war was Yushchenko's gas mutiny. The goal of this mutiny... was to explode the political situation in Ukraine in order to introduce direct presidential rule... It is clear that his plan has fallen through... Hence Yushchenko will be retreating. As for Tymoshenko, sooner or later she will reach a deal with Gazprom.

Judging by the fact that on Russia's part the protocol on an international observer group was signed not by Vladimir Putin but [First Deputy Prime Minister] Igor Sechin, the Russian government does not regard the conflict as close to being over. It was Vladimir Putin himself as president who ended all the previous gas wars.

The crisis caused by the disruption of Russian gas supplies to Europe has led to a fundamental change in the position of the European Union. For almost the first time its members have acted in a consolidated manner... After the current crisis Russia might therefore face a united energy policy on the part of the EU and this policy won't allow Russia to take advantage of disagreements among the Europeans. As for the EU, most certainly it will try to make sure that its energy policy depends on Russian gas supplies as little as possible to avoid similar crises in future.

Europe has gained as a result of the Ukrainian-Russian gas conflict, according to political analyst Viktor Nebozhenko. He explained that as a result of European experts' access to Ukrainian and Russian gas transport facilities the EU is gaining more influence on the gas market and economy as a whole than the Ukrainians and Russians themselves.

Ukrainian press

The crisis caused by the suspension of supplies of Russian gas to Europe has pushed the EU to fundamentally change its position. Its members have hardly ever spoken out in a consolidated manner. This means that Russia's ability to play on discrepancies among EU member countries while carrying out its energy strategy in Europe may be notably reduced. Meanwhile, Ukraine's reputation as a reliable transit country has been lost.

European countries, including Ukraine, should have been happy with the signing of the monitoring protocol. However, they should understand that what is happening is just a short respite between fights that may start again at any time, and on a bigger scale... A new turn in the conflict is inevitable. The main reason for this is the absence of transparent long-term contracts on gas supply and transit, based on a European pricing model.

Russian gas supplies to the EU through our gas transport system may be resumed today. This symbolises an end to the high-profile gas conflict between Moscow and Kiev, which will provide political dividends not only to the Kremlin and Gazprom, but also to the Ukrainian authorities. The hostage in the latest round of the Ukrainian-Russian standoff was the European Union, which saw a significant cut in gas supplies.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

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