Ukraine unfit: Putin says raid discredits country as transit hub.
Putin says raid taints Ukraine for transit
The recent raid by Ukraine's security service on state-run Naftogaz could damage trust in the country and force Russia to consider alternative routes, Russia's prime minister said today.
On 4 March, masked security agents raided the headquarters of Naftogaz. Valentyn Zemlyanskiy, spokesman for the Ukrainian state energy company, said the officers demanded to be shown all original documentation relating to the 19 January gas deal between Naftogaz and Russian gas giant Gazprom.
"Clearly, this is discrediting the country, and is making us think about alternative routes for gas deliveries to Europe," Vladimir Putin said in a RIA Novosti report.
Ukraine's SBU security service, which is overseen by President Viktor Yushchenko, has accused Naftogaz of illegally diverting 6.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas bought from Russia.
The dispute was widely seen as a part of ongoing political wrangling between the president and premier. Following news of the raid, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said the sole aim of the operation was to "paralyse Naftogaz's activities and destroy the gas distribution system in Ukraine and the system of payments."
The Ukrainian security service said on Thursday it had stopped its investigation into Naftogaz operations after a court ruled the probe was illegal.