Energy security - Gas, oil may cost more than money

YESTERDAY’S eleventh-hour deal between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin might well be a postcard from thefuture, warning us about what might await a small, relatively powerless economy in the world’s energy markets.

President Yushchenko arrived in Moscow as a supplicant, not as an equal partner in a business relationship. The issue was Ukraine’s unpaid gas bill of more than a €1 billion. Russia earlier threatened to switch off supplies if Kiev did not pay up.

However, there is a subtext. Ukraine’s pro-western Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko want to join NATO. President Putin has warned of “consequences” if this comes to pass.