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Ukrainian Security Service carries out operation in Naftogaz state company

04 March 2009 13:16 (UTC +04:00)

The companyâ€™s spokesman Ilya Savvin said about 20 men wearing masks entered the office jumping over the turnstiles without showing any documents. Later, it was known that the group consisting of 1 man dressed as civilian and 8 dressed in uniforms were Ukrainian national security service agents.
Parliamentarian from â€œYulia Tymoshenkoâ€ bloc Andrey Portnov said in the parliament that arrest had been imposed on Ukraineâ€™s gas.
â€œUnder the inspectorâ€™s decision, Ukrainian gas has been arrested. Now we can explain to the people where they can buy gas. They will probably buy gas from the Security Service,â€ he said.

Acting chairman of the Security Service Valeri Khoroshkovsky said criminal investigation had been launched into misappropriation of 6 billion cu m gas worth around 7.5 billion hryvna by some official of Naftogaz. He said some political forces and parliamentarians attempted to impede the investigation.
â€œWe can say that there is a serious group composed of officials, which is having illegal deals,â€ he said.
Security Service has already arrested deputy chief of energy customs department of State Customs Service Taras Shepitko.

President Viktor Yushchenko accused Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of signing illegal gas contracts with Russia.