KIEV, March 22 – Prime Minister Mykola Azarov says he was surprised that the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union, the Communist Party and Batkivschyna joined forces to fight the government's bill on the development of shale gas in Ukraine.

"You'll meet with opposition and could ask: how did the anti-Semitic Svoboda, the Communist Party, as well as Batkivschyna and the Front for Change unite against the government's bill on shale gas extraction?" he said during a meeting with U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Kiev.

"Let them explain to you whose interests they're defending. On the one hand, they speak out against Russia, on the other hand, in fact are agents of the Russian Federation," the premier said.