Event Report: Segii Bondarchuk on Ukraine’s relations with the EU, its Military Security, and Energy Security
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Ukrainian businessman and civic activist, Sergii Bondarchuk spoke to ASP on Tuesday, October 22 about Ukraine and the country’s future.
During the conversation, Mr. Bondarchuk highlighted three topics: Ukraine’s attempt to join the European Union, Ukraine’s energy security, and Ukraine’s military security. The consistent theme in all three topics was Russia. Mr. Bondarchuk wants Ukraine to have a referendum vote to join the EU, which would “make impossible any aspiration from the imperial Russian side to challenge Ukraine’s destiny.”
On the issue of military security, Mr. Bondarchuk perceived a threat from a Russian Black Sea fleet in Ukrainian territory, and called for it to leave by 2017. The greatest source of his concern about Russia stems from the perception that Ukraine is beholden to Gazprom, and hence Russia, for its energy security.
Currently, Ukraine is heavily dependent upon Gazprom, the Russian gas company, for most of its natural gas supply. He claims this dependence has created large problems for Ukraine. Gazprom cut off its supply of gas to Europe and Ukraine during the winters of 2006 and 2009. This year, as a part of the ongoing dispute, Gazprom charged the Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz $7 billion for importing less gas than contracted, a bill Naftogaz has refused to pay. Bondarchuck called for Ukraine to wean off its dependence on Russia by importing gas from other sources and exploring its own domestic energy sources. He claims that Ukraine may have the world’s third largest shale gas reserves. Whether it does or not will take years and a great deal of investment to determine.
You can watch and listen to the discussion below:
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[…] Event Report: Segii Bondarchuk on Ukraine’s relations with the EU, its Military Security, and Ener… […]
[…] for Europe. Sergii Bondarchuk, a Ukrainian businessman and civic leader who spoke with ASP about Ukraine’s future, thinks that Gazprom has too much influence in Ukraine. But ironically there is one country […]