KIEV, Aug. 17 – Russia on Wednesday sought to play a role in the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko by alleging that former President Viktor Yushchenko had supported the controversial gas agreement in January 2009.

Yushchenko, who has persistently and publicly criticized the 10-year gas agreement negotiated by Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Wednesday testified in court and called on the government to revoke the agreement.

At the trial, Yushchenko also said the court must summon Putin and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller for testimonies about the negotiations that had led to the controversial agreement.

“Yushchenko is deceiving the court,” a senior official at the Kremlin told Interfax-Ukraine late Wednesday.

“Being at the post of the president, he personally wanted to obtain political dividends and had suggested to sign the agreement with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to solve the gas problems,” the official said. “In response, he was told that this issue is in the competence of governments of both countries.”

“Besides, in phone conversations later with Medvedev Yushchenko has directly stated that he completely trusts Yulia Tymoshenko, who has all required authorities, and that he supports the agreements signed with Russia,” the official said.

The comments from the anonymous official cannot be used in court, but they have been sending a message that clearly attempts to link Yushchenko to the gas agreement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry was one of the first to react to the arrest of Tymoshenko on August 5 by stating the gas agreements had been signed in line with national legislations of Russia and Ukraine, and was backed by both presidents and both prime ministers.

Ukrainian prosecutors allege the agreement negotiated by Tymoshenko and Putin in January 2009 had led to massive increase in costs for Naftogaz Ukrayiny and appears to be an economic burden for Ukraine due to high gas prices.

Ukraine has been trying to re-negotiate the agreement but 18 months of talks has so far not led to any progress.

Moscow has been insisting on either political concessions, such as reversing Kiev’s foreign policy towards closer ties with Russia, or on surrendering Ukrainian gas pipelines to Gazprom in exchange for lower gas prices.

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, former allies, were at odds over many things, including natural gas talks with Russia in 2009. On Wednesday Yushchenko again confirmed that Tymoshenko had kept the gas agreement with Russia secret without disclosing price-setting formula and other important details.

For example, at a meeting with Tymoshenko and other officials on January 18 2009, one day before the agreement was signed, Yushchenko said the former prime minister had declined to provide the crucial information.

“I three or four times asked: Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko], what will be the price?” Yushchenko said in the testimony on Wednesday. “The response I received was that the price will be good, and this good price will also have a discount.”

Yushchenko also said he had received a copy of the signed agreement by fax from an undisclosed source in Moscow on January 19, and at first could not believe the information was true because the agreement was so unfavorable for Ukraine.

He said eventually Putin shad showed the original of the agreement, while Tymoshenko had refused to do so.

Tymoshenko’s defense team repeatedly said that Yushchenko may be responsible for the controversial gas agreement because he had allegedly recalled Oleh Dubyna, the head of Naftogaz Ukrayiny, from the talks with Miller late December 2008.

Yushchenko denied this allegation, adding that Dubyna had requested a meeting with him on December 27, 2008 to inform the president of the latest results of the talks. He said the lowest price achieved at the talks was $250 per 1,000 cubic meters, and said he intended to continue the talks to lower the price to $235/1,000 cu m.

“I do not have the authority to recall members of the government. This is not my competence,” Yushchenko said. “These fairy tales that keep sounding is a way of diverting the responsibility.”

Yushchenko also quoted Putin as saying that Tymoshenko had “declined” to sign the agreement that anticipated $250/1,000 cu m price and an opportunity for Ukraine to “re-export” undisclosed amount of Russian gas allowing generating extra revenue for Naftogaz Ukrayiny.

The agreement signed on January 19 2009 anticipated the gas price at $450/1,000 cu m, but had included a one-year 20% discount that was supposed to expire at the end of 2009.

Tymoshenko on Wednesday declined her chance to ask Yushchenko questions within the testimony, saying she did not want to “try the Orange Revolution,” a popular uprising against election fraud in November 2004 that had catapulted Yushchenko and Tymoshenko to power. (tl/ez)