Some resolution seems to have been found in the apparently never-ending dispute between Ukraine and Turkmenistan over outstanding debts for natural gas supplies. Negotiations were held in the Ministry of Oil and Gas in Dushanbe over the last weekend with a high-level Ukrainian delegation headed by Naftogaz Ukrainy Commercial Director Anatoly Popadiuk. According to a press statement released by the Turkmen Ministry:

“On the instruction of the presidents of Turkmenistan and Ukraine the respective delegations of the two countries finalised the issue of the debt settlement by the Ukrainian side for Turkmen natural gas supplied in 2003-2005 which was acknowledged by the Ukrainian delegation and currently stands at $169.9 million. $46.8 million is payable in cash and $122.8 million in commodities.
In the end of talks the sides signed an agreement on payment of Turkmen natural gas supplied to Ukraine in 2003-2005.
The sides agreed that part of the debt of Ukraine totalling $60.6 [million] would be paid in cash. Another part of the debts standing at $27.7 [million] would be also paid in cash on account of commodity payment.
According to the agreement, the Ukrainian side would settle the commodity part of the debt by supplying pipe products worth $58.3 million. The remaining part of the debt would also be offset by obtaining barter goods from Ukraine.
The cash payments would be made as soon as possible and the barter goods would be supplied by 10 August 2006.
The agreement was legally confirmed by Turkmenistan through a resolution of the president of Turkmenistan.”

This has come just in time for Ukraine, which was looking at the renewed possibility of an outside provider of energy resources cutting off supplies, in the terms of a warning issued by the Turkmen government on March 18. Most notably, Russia cut off supplies to Ukraine at the start of 2006. However, this threat was swiftly rebutted by Ukrainian Fuel Minister Ivan Plachkov, according to a Noviye Izvestiya report on March 20. Ukraine maintained that gas deliveries from Turkmenistan in January-February 2006 had not been carried out.
This accusation was derided by Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of the Commonwealth of Independent States, who points out that according to the current arrangements Turkmen gas is delivered to the Urals, with the Russians sending their own stock of gas to Ukraine. This arrangement, says Zharikin in comments made to Noviye Izvestiya, is concordant with the current rationale of Russian economic and transportation policies. He also concluded, in the context of an article that preceded the latest signal of agreement between Kiev and Ashgabat, that Russia looks to be the beneficiaries of the dispute insofar as the situation gives Gazprom substantial room for manoeuvre in applying pressure on Ukraine.