Results of Meeting Between Yushchenko, Tymoshenko and Topolanek

On Friday evening Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, holding the current Presidency of the EU, met at the reception house of the Ukrainian head of state.

Following the meeting, Yulia Tymoshenko said that Ukraine is ready to sign the protocol proposed by Russia to establish a multilateral commission to monitor the transit of gas through Ukrainian territory.

“We will sign such a protocol,” she told journalists after the meeting.

Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov said, “The protocol for the creation of a multilateral committee to monitor the transit of gas through the territory of Ukraine has not yet been signed. According to latest reports, the Ukrainian government was ready to sign the protocol. But it seems that President Yushchenko has not decided to sign it.”

It was previously reported that European observers arrived in Kiev on Friday and have begun monitoring. Sergey Kupriyanov said, “As long as the protocol is not signed by all parties, these specialists do not have observer status. They also have nothing to monitor in Kiev. Monitoring should be carried out at the entrances and exits of the Ukrainian gas transport system and at Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities.”