Ukraine has signed a protocol on control over supplies and transportation of Russian gas to European countries via its territory, Itar-Tass quoted Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko as saying in a news conference early morning Sunday. The group of monitoring gas transit via Ukraine will consist of 75 people, the Ukrainian president's press service reported on Sunday. ”The European Commission, the governments of Ukraine and the Russian Federation will jointly form an expert group which will include 25 experts from each,” the report said. Monitoring is provided for in the Ukrainian territory at the gas-gauging stations Orlovka, Tekovo, Uzhgorod, Beregovo and Drozdovichi. “Information on results of transit monitoring is to be transmitted in the on-line regime to competent offices in Kiev, Brussels and Moscow,” the report notes. The sides foot expenses for operation of their observers. The Ukrainian side also circulated unilateral statement, expressing specific interpretation of the content and format of implementing the joint protocol. The Ukrainian president's commissioner for international issues of energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky claimed that the protocol “removes artificial barrier” which allegedly interfered with the process of transiting Russian gas to Europe. “Now, all responsibility for gas supplies to Europe rests with the Russian side,” he said.
