President Medvedev comment on Ukraine gas, press freedom скачать в хорошем качестве

President Medvedev comment on Ukraine gas, press freedom

(9 Dec 2009) 1. Wide exterior House of Music community centre 2. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev entering hall 3. Wide shot audience 4. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Medvedev, Russian President: "Every month, our Ukrainian friends pay for gas. This makes me very happy. At that, our partners in the European Union whisper into my ear: 'you see, we are working. Ukrainians have the money, we are helping them.' We hope this final transition to the market system of price formation (starting next year) will be painless for Ukraine or, at least, will cause little problems." 5. Mid Medvedev 6. Wide audience 7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Medvedev, Russian President: "I'm not going to contact the incumbent Georgian president (Mikhail Saakashvili) and some other leaders due to the fact that we have followed different paths and our assessments of the events (August 2008 war) are too different. I think president Saakashvili bears direct legal responsibility for the crime committed." 8. Wide shot pan audience 9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Medvedev, Russian President: (Answering question from an Uzbek journalist about the state of freedom of speech in Russia) "First of all, I hope everything is fine with freedom of speech in Uzbekistan. Since you are addressing this question to me, you are probably not interested in the Uzbek angle. As to the freedom of speech in our country, let me answer along the same lines: everything is fine here as well." 10. Various of audience STORYLINE: Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev discussed freedom of speech, relations with neighbouring Georgia and the Ukrainian gas issue at an international journalists' forum in Moscow Wednesday. Medvedev's comments on Ukraine followed last week's announcement by Russian state-controlled natural gas producer Gazprom that the former Soviet republic paid its November gas bill on time. "Every month, our Ukrainian friends pay for gas. This makes me very happy. At that, our partners in the European Union whisper into my ear: 'you see, we are working. Ukrainians have the money, we are helping them'," Medvedev said, easing fears of a replay of last winter's supplies cutoff to Europe. In January, a pricing dispute between Gazprom and Ukraine saw the Russian gas monopoly cut supplies to EU nations through Ukraine for two weeks. Europe gets around 20 percent of its gas from Russia, most of it via pipelines that cross Ukraine. In July, the European Commission brokered an agreement between Ukraine and international lenders to provide up to 1.7 (b) billion US dollars in loans to help it pay its gas bills and modernise its pipeline network. Russia and Ukraine now have a new contract and Ukraine has met the latest payment deadline. The deal reached after January's spat was criticised by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who said it betrayed the national interests. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed to revise the deal at a meeting last month with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko, lowering the amount of gas Kiev must buy next year. The move came as a relief for Ukraine, which has been hit hard by the global economic crisis and has drastically cut its gas consumption. "We hope this final transition to the market system of price formation (starting next year) will be painless for Ukraine or, at least, will cause little problems," Medvedev added. The Russian president also addressed the question of freedom of speech in his country, saying "everything is fine". He indicated some liberal leanings at the forum by taking a mild swipe at a journalist from Uzbekistan, where news Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...