Kuchma: A new rise in the gas price is “approaching Ukraine like a typhoon”

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The major threat to Ukraine’s economy is a new rise in the gas price, Ukraine’s Ex President Leonid Kuchma says in an interview to Radio Liberty.

“This rise is approaching Ukraine like a typhoon. Through its Ambassador Chernomyrdin, Russia has told us that the gas price will depend on the market only and, by no means, on the format of the parliamentary coalition. However, as you know, misfortunes never come singly, and economic difficulties may give birth to political problems,” says Kuchma. He hopes that there will be no collapse — “but there will still be big difficulties, especially in the chemical industry, where 70% of the cost value is the gas price.” “Metallurgy will stand the blow, but chemistry will have really a hard time. I don’t know how people will stand growing bills. They are just beginning to grow, but we can already see thickening clouds of tension hovering over our society,” says Kuchma.

Kuchma says that the gas price will not depend on who is the prime minister. “I know the views of Yanukovich and I would like him to calm down our relations with Russia. However, I would like to say once again that the gas price will not depend on who is the prime minister. We have only lost time. You perfectly understand that $230 per 1,000 cubic meters was a political price for the change in Ukraine’s political line,” says Kuchma.