Month: January 2009

Hello,

If I get shut out of the Internet while in Ukraine you will know why. Ukraine is doing major anti Russian censorship of its media in all forms. At this point we can not receive any form of YouTube videos, RIA Novosti, Russian Government blog and many many ru sites. BBC is available on line but all articles that have to do with Russia and gas are removed and or blocked. We can not even search the BBC website. Now we have full access to CNN and Time Western News. The gas articles are slanted in Ukraine favor and we get all Western media just fine.

Seems Ukraine is trying to cover the gas issues by keeping the word from spreading by all media means.

Can anyone say “Censorship”?

The article after this one gives some very good information on what is happening in Ukraine with the gas issue.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

Svet and I are in the hotel Slavutich: They have WiFi and it works really good. Three months ago when I was getting my visa to Russia, this hotel did not have WiFi and it was terrible to try to post. We are getting all we need done and hope to be able to wrap it up early here, but we are going to be here for the weekend at least.

Today Svet and I were able to get a lot of pictures of men ice fishing. We watched them as they drilled their holes and use an ice pick to enlarge the hole. More on that later when we get the pictures to go with the story.

We also have listen to the news about the gas issue. It seems that Ukraine will not let the gas go through and Ukraine tells the local news casts that Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine and put the President and Prime Minister out of office. Ukraine tells the local news that Russia will not pump gas to Ukraine and there is nothing that Ukraine can do.

The international news side is a different story and Ukraine is crying about mean Russia and then making any and all excuses to delay the gas. Ukraine says that the Prime Minister of Ukraine will talk this Sunday to Russia and see what can be worked out. Seems Ukraine has thumbed their nose at the EU and Russia. Ukraine tells Europe that the problem is a internal company problem between Gazprom and Ukraine gas companies.

The rumors of gas shortage in the country side of Ukraine seem to be a reality and all gas seems to be concentrated at Kiev. But I see conservative measures everywhere and our Hotel room is getting very little heat and is in reality very cold but Svet and I are use to cold so we just bundle up and walk allot.

The news is very sporadic about the gas issue and Ukraine skims away from Europe has no gas crime…

What I see here in Ukraine is one step from a political melt down. The President of Ukraine has basically a 0% approval rating. (2.4% by Ukraine figures) The country no longer is being run by the President. I really do not know who is running the country right now but my bets are pointing at the Gas Companies!

That is all for now and we are taking lots of pictures. Svet says hi to all the readers!

Kyle & Svet

Hello,

Seems that we have not had enough of Ukraine over this gas issue. So Svet and I will leave Russia and be gone about a week to Kiev, Ukraine on business. If we get everything done quickly maybe Svet & I can do some sight seeing and take lots of pictures. 🙂

I have a new camera phone that takes pictures as good as my regular camera. It is a 3 mega pixel camera phone from Samsung. (Samsung U800) I am so happy with the phone and have started to take pictures with it on our Russian photo Blog.

I am going to try to get the pulse of what is happening first hand in Ukraine. The last time I was there the city seemed so out of touch with reality. It seems to be having a major struggle with the direction that she seems to want to go in the future. (Link) That struggle includes major issue with Russia and that I feel is Ukraine’s downfall. Ukraine needs to remember her roots and Russia is a large part of who and what Ukraine is.

So, who knows what interesting things we will uncover in Kiev. We are planning on taking a train out of Russia because of the weather this time of the year and will leave around 8:00 pm or 20:00 (Moscow Time) Tuesday night. Should be safer than trying to travel Russia’s country roads much less the roads in Ukraine.

We will try to keep the posting up but that counts on the internet that Kiev has and the last time it was not very good.

We can not wait, We love train rides and always have so much fun traveling by train.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/sdocs/vappears.shtml

This above link is to Medvedev’s Video Blog.

Seems that Obama plans on doing the same thing when he gets in office. The wave of the future, “Presidents with Laptops!”

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

English Text:

DMITRY MEDVEDEV:

Dear friends!

I would like to once again wish you all a Happy New Year!

I hope you had good New Year holidays. Holidays which were quite long this year.

And I would like to talk to you about something that I think is very important. It is related to the development of physical culture and sport in our country.

The thing is that recently quite a few different things aimed at the development of physical culture and sports have been done, done with a view to creating normal conditions for recreation for millions of our citizens. But if we talk very frankly then what has been done remains insufficient. And maybe these New Year’s holidays are a good opportunity to reflect a little on how we should develop physical education in Russia, and on how we should develop sports facilities in our country so that millions of our citizens take part in this normal form of recreation.

As you know, in 2014 the Winter Olympics will take place in our country. Now preparations have swung into full gear, as they say. We are constructing new facilities, creating new sports fields and sports venues. And we are doing all this despite the recent financial situation in the world and in our country, a situation which has, of course, deteriorated quite seriously because of the global financial crisis. But I think that is an area where we have no right to pinch pennies. Ultimately, people’s well-being – what we refer to as the nation’s health — depends on this.

And in this regard I believe that we must all learn how to relax. You know, to speak frankly we did not have the opportunities for such holidays or to develop such a culture during the Soviet period. And when each of us went somewhere abroad, for example, we were surprised to see how well our neighbours can relax. We should try to establish that same culture of leisure, that same culture of sports in our country. So that we can have such great New Year holidays and summer vacations in normal human conditions: engaging in physical exercise, relaxing with our families, and receiving great pleasure from this.

You know, the question of relaxation is always a very personal one. Each of us must decide how we are going to do so. This year I went skiing at Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi. I think that that we have now created perfectly decent, acceptable conditions for this sort of sport, the same conditions that exist in many European countries. I can tell you in all honesty that it gave me great joy, great pleasure to exercise in this way. I really liked it.

Hello,

I was drinking my coffee and thinking about the gas issue – Did Ukraine sign yet?

Low and behold: Ukraine has signed the original papers sent to them from Russia and the EU! Now a certified copy is on there way to Russia and then Gazprom can get the gas back on.

What had upset Russia so much about the Ukraine modified version? Two of the points that Ukraine tried to sneak in was,

1. Ukraine had paid all the debts to Gazprom in full.
2. Ukraine had not stolen gas earmarked for Europe.

The flagrant fact is that Ukraine is trying to cover their back side because they have gotten themselves in trouble this time. The addition of these items to an official paper about EU gas was a mockery of the system and Russia has a right to demand that anything to do with who owed what and who stole what, was not the issue at hand.

The issue of who owes who and who stole what, is the issues coming up in the International court systems. That is why you could not have a official document on International level changing the faults and blames.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

Looks like Russia had Ukraine pegged on this signing issue. Ukraine could not sign the document with out changing the wording of the original. Ukraine also wanted statements that said that they never stole gas. Seems that Ukraine is worried about being prosecuted for stolen gas and trying to get Russia to accept the loses and keep going.

Russia’s president said on Sunday a three-party deal to resume Russian natural gas supplies to the EU via Ukraine should not be fulfilled as Kiev had added new conditions to it.

Moscow and Kiev separately signed agreements with the European Union this weekend to set up international monitoring at gas inlets and outlets in both countries. Russia said it had to receive a copy of Ukraine’s monitoring document with the EU to resume supplies.

Ukraine put forward certain demands that run counter to Russia’s position when it signed the monitoring deal with the EU, adding a handwritten note that attached an additional declaration to the document.

“Such conditions make a mockery of common sense and are a violation of agreements we reached earlier,” President Dmitry Medvedev said. “Such actions are meant to thwart the agreement to monitor the gas transits – they are blatantly provocative and destructive.”

“The text, to have it straight, provokes utter astonishment because it partially contains false statements, including a theory that Ukraine has not tapped any gas, and that all Russian gas was transited to Europe, while its other half consists of statements running contrary to the context of the agreement we signed with the European Union,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with the president. (Link)

I said in a post that Ukraine Does not Wanna Sign! Well they did “but” played the political games that all countries are so well know for!

“Stupidity and Dumbness” It seems right now that we have allot of this going around from Israel pounding the Gaza into oblivion, America trillions and trillions of dollars in debt, Europe for not stomping Ukraine into submission over the gas deliveries and Ukraine for allowing clan wars amongst the politicians to destroy the countries reputation!

Looks like European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has failed on the Kiev end?

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Svet just sent me a link she found to a great video with Ron Paul.

Russia Today had an exclusive interview with Ron Paul. This is a very good interview and he always tells it like it is. It may not be what you want to hear but he says it anyway. He talks about USA involvement in Ukraine and Georgia. He talks about the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. He talks about the troubles that America has caused all over the world…..

Fantastic interview!

Kyle & Svet

Hello,

Just a few minutes ago: Ukraine has signed a deal allowing international monitors to check the flow of gas through its territory. Earlier on Saturday, representatives of Russia and the EU signed the document. The Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, said the agreement clears the way for the resumption of gas supplies to Europe.

Get that gas flow going…..

We all know that Ukraine didn’t just start stealing Russian gas yesterday. It’s something they’ve been doing for many years. Kiev benefit from it and now that monitors are in place, Ukraine will have to work honestly and transparently.

I think that this is going to be hard for Kiev to accept and now the battle of gas price comes to the forefront. Gazprom has ignored the contract and price issue just to get Ukraine to turn the gas back on. Now that monitors are in place, Ukraine can not play games when they haggle over price and past due bills.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Ukraine Certificate of Guarantee!

Hello,

President of Russia – Medvedev made a statement last night about Ukraine gas deal and he told the Gazprom bosses it must be in writing. We have lost all trust in Ukraine for any and all adventures.

Today Putin has taken the Presidents lead and pronounced after hearing that the EU has got verbal permission for the set up of observers in Ukraine. “Put it in writing!” said Putin.

The quote of the day once again goes to Putin!

We in America learned along time ago that nothing is true until it is “put in writing.”

So sorry Ukraine after shutting the gas off to Europe, stealing and lying!

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Kiev 16:58:37.Head of the European group for monitoring natural gas transit, a representative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, Filip Cornelis, has arrived in Ukraine, RBC Ukraine was told by the press secretary of the EC Representative Office in Ukraine, David Stulik. According to him, part of the group of experts is currently holding a meeting in Berlin to determine which sites of the gas pipeline system to visit. The group features representatives of 18 gas companies and four top-ranking European Commission employees.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Kiev 16:44:41.Gazprom representatives have been included in a European Commission group for monitoring gas transit via Ukraine, David Stulik, the press secretary of the EC Representative Office in Ukraine, announced. According to the European Commission, the first group of monitors is already on its way, and should arrive in Kiev around 3 p.m. local time.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Tskhinval 16:31:16.The South Ossetian Defense Ministry has evidence that Georgia is reinforcing its military strength along the republic’s border. According to the republic’s Deputy Defense Minister Ibragim Gasseyev, this morning’s records showed that four armored vehicles and sixteen trucks appeared near the village Mereti in the vicinity of the Prisskiye highlands in the border area. Gasseyev noted that, given twenty persons or more can be in each of the vehicles, Georgia has massed a minimum of 300 troops near Mereti, according to a statement of South Ossetia’s State Information and Press Department. Records show that Georgian military equipment and troops also appeared near the villages Atotsi, Knolevi, and Dvani, Gasseyev added.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Moscow 16:19:17.Disrupting the signing of a protocol on creating a multilateral commission on monitoring gas transit through Ukraine is another step on the part of Kiev aimed at escalating the already critical situation with Russian gas transit to Europe. Hence, because of Ukraine, the mechanism of independent monitoring and control has not been created, Gazprom said in a statement. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s reports that it acknowledges its responsibility for facilitating uninterrupted gas transit along its territory are just high-sounding words having no ground to stand on, Gazprom noted.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Moscow 15:39:53.Speaking about gas supplies to Ukraine proper, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller noted that there was no progress seen in Russian-Ukrainian talks yet. “Although the talks have resumed, my impression is that Ukrainian negotiators have no mandate and no powers whatsoever on setting any price level for 2009 or gas purchase volumes. The talks are practically not going anywhere,” Miller said during a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Kiev 15:11:03.Mirek Topolanek, prime minister of the Czech Republic which took over the EU presidency on January 1, is expected in Ukraine today to negotiate Russia’s gas transit to the EU countries via Ukraine. “Following a conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last night, Mirek Topolanek coordinated his today’s visit to Kiev with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko,” the European Commission reported. The aim of the visit is to discuss the details of work of the EU monitoring group and its access to gas transit facilities in Ukraine, to ensure the soonest resuming of Russia’s gas transit to Europe.”

RBC, 09.01.2009, Moscow 14:59:05.The Russian banking system witnessed a deposit inflow in December 2008, chairman of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB) Garegin Tosunian told the Echo of Moscow radio station. He noted that this was due largely to the population’s expectations. Tosunian elaborated that when people realize that no force majeure is forthcoming, they stop panicking and withdrawing money from bank accounts, as well as converting it into foreign currencies. The ARB chief, however, did not specify by how much bank deposits increased in December 2008.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Moscow 11:55:46.Ukraine must pay the market value for natural gas, while Russia is ready to pay the arm’s length price for transit, as well, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced during a meeting with international reporters. According to Putin, since Ukraine is not honoring its agreements, it should pay the market value. In this case, Russia is prepared to pay $3.4 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas transited through Ukraine. Putin stressed the need to switch to “normal, civilized market relations.” He also said he was perplexed by Ukraine’s statements insisting on receiving gas at prices that are lower than those charged to its neighbors. According to Putin, this is having a direct impact on certain economic sectors of its neighboring countries, making them uncompetitive.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Kiev 13:44:59.Ukraine has agreed that Russians will be in the commission to monitor gas transit via its territory, official spokesman for Naftogaz of Ukraine Valentin Zemlyanskiy said. According to him, European monitors will arrive in Kiev today and will be visiting gas metering stations together with their Russian colleagues.

RBC, 09.01.2009, Moscow 12:40:46.Russia will continue to further assist in expediting the cessation of the military confrontation in and around the Gaza Strip, including as part of the U.N. Security Council’s peacekeeping efforts, as well as through contacts with its international and regional partners, including Israel. As reported by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s information and press department, the Russian presidential envoy to the Middle East and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov made a statement to this effect during a meeting with Israel’s First Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday.