KIEV - Ukraine's Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk, on leave of absence to campaign in an election, said on Tuesday Kiev should back out of a deal sharply increasing the price of imported gas and restart talks on the issue with Russia.
He had already expressed doubts about the deal, saying it offered no guarantee of uninterrupted supplies or price stability because of doubts over the consortium chosen to bring gas to the country's border.
"The country must go back to the starting point. We have all the objective conditions to achieve a proper balance of interests between Ukraine and Russia," he told a conference on the Internet site www.liga.net.
"Russia has the gas, but doesn't have the pipelines. We have the gas transport system without which it's impossible to export gas to Europe. That gives us the opportunity to defend our interests in our talks on gas."
The New Year deal ended a standoff culminating in a brief cutoff of Russian supplies to Ukraine and to gas giant Gazprom's European customers. Ukraine now pays $95 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas against a previous price of $50 -- discounted to take account of fees for transit through Ukraine's pipeline network.
Gazprom had originally sought increases to $230.
A protocol underpinning the deal must still be signed by the two governments. And major doubts remain over the RosUkrEnergo consortium supplying gas to the border because of its unclear structures and activity.
Speaking in parliament this month, Pynzenyk said the accord posed risks to the budget and the creditworthiness of Naftogaz Ukrainy, the state gas and oil firm.
The deal plunged Ukraine into constitutional deadlock as parliament sacked the cabinet on grounds of betraying national interests. Liberal President Viktor Yushchenko, elected in 2004 after mass "Orange Revolution" rallies, ignored the move.
Pynzenyk leads the Reform and Order party in the March 26 election to a parliament with expanded powers: parties making up a majority will in effect be empowered to choose the next prime minister.
The party is far back in opinion polls, currently led by the Regions Party of Viktor Yanukovich, the rival Yushchenko defeated in the 2004 election.
Fighting it out for second place are the pro-presidential Our Ukraine party and the bloc led by sacked prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a fierce critic of the gas deal.
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