Gasprom wants Poland to make a decision on pipeline to bypass Ukraine

"No decision by East European countries about building a Russian pipeline through Poland to Slovakia, which would not go through Ukraine, may force us to build a North European pipeline," said the press office of Gasprom on Tuesday. Gasprom wants to build a pipeline from Belarus through Poland to Slovakia and further to Western and Southern Europe. Polish investment would place it in an awkward situation, as the pipeline would not go through Poland's strategic partner - Ukraine. Ukraine is also the main transit country of Russian gas to Western Europe and the proposed pipeline would cause an economic threat to them. On the other hand if Poland does not decide in favor of this investment it would lose about $900 million in revenues from transit fees yearly. "We are interested in gas transit, but we do not want to threaten the economic interest of our partner. If gas flowing in the new pipeline would not decrease revenues of Ukraine we would probably decide for it after talks with the Ukrainian government," said Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Steinhoff. Gasprom is also considering an alternative, which would be to build a pipeline under the Baltic Sea either through the German coast or through Finland and Sweden. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 1, 28) M.M.