Yanukovich Assures Russia Over WTO.

Viktor Yanukovich, prime minister, said during his visit to Russia today that Ukraine must take into account the prospect that “unsynchronized” accession to the World Trade Organization by Ukraine and Russia – ie, Ukraine entering earlier – could worsen their trade relations, which he said was “very unsettling for Ukraine and Russia”. His comments came after a meeting with Russia’s prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, where the two discussed gas prices. Yanukovich said deferring the next gas price increase until Jan. 2007 was “fundamental” for Ukraine and that he hoped to fix prices for five years, while Fradkov said Ukraine’s import price for 4Q06 would be decided within “days”. Tom Warner: What Yanukovich says in Moscow should be taken more seriously than his comments yesterday in Brussels, where he assured EU leaders he was intent on completing WTO accession quickly. We think Ukraine is likely to go slow on WTO accession and join around the same time as Russia, in around 2008.