KIEV, Dec. 22 – President Viktor Yushchenko has sharply criticized Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's natural gas policy in interviews with European newspapers, saying her government has been treating financial problems of Naftogaz Ukrayiny irresponsibly.

The president said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph (UK) and El Mundo (Spain) that there are several reasons for the national gas company's financial difficulties, the principal two being the government's unwillingness to raise domestic gas prices in advance of the election, and the prime minister's inability to defend a fair contract for the supply and transit of gas in talks with Russian gas giant Gazprom.