Participation in North and South Streams logical and clear to Ukrainian producers, says Azarov

14:07

The statement by presidential candidate and the leader of the Regions Party Viktor Yanukovych that he supports the building of the North Stream and South Stream pipelines is absolutely logical and clear to Ukrainian producers, according to a top member of the Regions Party.

Regions Party faction MP Mykola Azarov gave this view at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

"Anyway, Yanukovych's proposal - given that they will build [gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine] anyway, so why not take part - is logical and clear to Ukrainian producers," he said.

Azarov said that Ukrainian plants that produce pipes are interested in the projects.

"If the decision has been made and pipelines are under construction, Viktor Yanukovych gave a simple idea: we have pipe plants, and pipelines need pipes, why don't we use the capacities of our plants and our Ukrainian industry, taking into account the fact that there are few orders on our pipes," he said.

The lawmaker said that the capacity of the two gas pipelines is not competitive to the Ukrainian gas transport system, as they are less in volume, capacity and pumping costs.

"The two bypassing gas pipelines will never replace our main gas pipeline, which passes through Ukraine: neither in volume and capacity, nor in pumping cost, as it is always going to be more expensive to pump through complicated underwater gas pipelines than through our pipeline," Azarov said.

He added that Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician, and national interests for him are very important.

Earlier, presidential candidate and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she was shocked by the claims of presidential candidate and Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych that he supported the construction of the North Stream gas pipeline.

"When I heard presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych's statement that he as [a likely head of] state would participate in North Stream, I was simply shocked, because this is a direct threat to [Ukraine's] national interests," she said.

North Stream is a gas pipeline to link Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea. An agreement on the pipeline's construction was signed early in September 2005.

South Stream's purpose is to bypass what Russia regards as an unstable gas transiting country – Ukraine.