January 11, 2006	Wednesday	Zilhaj 10, 1426

KIEV, Jan 10: The Ukrainian parliament voted on Tuesday to sack the government following criticism of its deal with Russia on natural gas pricing.

Lawmakers approved a resolution of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov by a comfortable margin with 250 in favor, well in excess of the 226 threshold needed.

President Viktor Yushchenko said the parliament’s vote ‘is not constitutional’ and decided to make an appeal to the court. “Time will show that this decision is not constitutional,” Mr Yushchenko said as he disembarked from his plane at Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.

Mr Yushchenko is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana, and the gas price issue is thought to be on the agenda.

The immediately binding resolution came as a surprise even if it was expected that Mr Yekhanurov would face angry criticism in the parliamentary session over the gas price deal.

Two former prime ministers and erstwhile political foes, Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovich, had both criticized the deal, under which Ukraine agreed to pay Russia twice as much for natural gas.

But the speaker of parliament, Volodymyr Litvin, indicated earlier in the day that a vote of no confidence had been virtually ruled out.

Earlier in Tuesday’s session, Mr Yekhanurov defended his government’s deal with Russia, telling an angry parliament that it served Ukraine’s national interests. He promised that it would not lead to higher prices for consumers.

“In its actions, the government was guided, and will continue to be guided, by the national interests of Ukraine,” Mr Yekhanurov said in a speech before parliament.

He said that under the controversial Jan 4 deal Ukraine would pay a ‘far lower’ price for gas than other eastern European countries, and that the agreement ‘makes any sudden increase in the price of gas impossible’ without the approval of the Ukrainian government.

Under the terms of the accord reached last Wednesday, Ukraine agreed to buy natural gas from both Russia and Turkmenistan through an intermediary company at a rate of 95 dollars per 1,000 cubic metres.

That is nearly double the 50 dollars Ukraine paid for Russian gas until Jan 1, but taking into account cheap gas from Turkmenistan it is still far less than the 230 dollars the Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom has insisted on for its own gas.

Gazprom had justified the increase by saying it was in line with ‘international market rates’, which average 240 dollars per 1,000 cubic metres elsewhere in Europe.

Many observers, however, saw the sudden increase as a Kremlin-inspired effort to undermine Mr Yushchenko and his government ahead of parliamentary elections in March by forcing a substantial natural gas price hike onto businesses and households.

Mr Yekhanurov assured that this would not happen despite the agreed price increase.—AFP