No new gas deal until after election - Russian Ambassador to Ukraine

No new talks on Russian natural gas supplies to Ukraine will occur until after the October 28 parliamentary election, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov said yesterday, according to Unian. Zurabov said, without elaborating, that Russia’s previous interest in a stake in Ukraine’s gas transportation system in exchange for a price discount has “changed.” The statement is the first from a high-ranking Russian official that talks would be frozen until after the Ukrainian election. As recently as in the runup to the July 12 meeting between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian officials insisted that gas was one of the issues to be discussed, but no major statements were made on the issue.