"I think in the last [few] months - couple of months - we went through a quite difficult, stormy period," the president said, referring to a bitter dispute between the neighboring nations over prices for natural gas. "But I think it has been quite mutually beneficial."
"We have emerged with principles that are comprehensible, transparent and clear," he said, adding that the two countries had gone through one of the most complicated periods in their histories.
The dispute started when Russian energy giant said it wanted Ukraine to pay market prices for supplies of natural gas, whereas Ukraine said it wanted to continue operating under a barter agreement under which it received gas for about $50 per 1,000 cubic meters. A deal was finally hammered out after Gazprom cut off supplies to its neighbor. Gazprom will now sell gas to a Swiss-based trader RosUkEnergo for $230 per 1,000 cu m, which national gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy will then buy for $95.
Although Yushchenko has praised the deal, and he once again congratulated those responsible for brokering it today, many parliamentarians in his country have taken a different view. On Tuesday, they voted to sack the government over its handling of the issue.
