Energy musn't be used as a weapon, Washington's top diplomat said today as the EU and US vowed to help Ukraine overcome energy shortages after a painful Moscow gas-price hike.
"No nation should use energy to stymie a people's aspirations. It should not be used as a weapon," US Secretary of State John Kerry said as he opened a meeting of the US-EU Energy Council.
Speaking a day after Moscow heaped even more pressure on Ukraine's teetering economy with the painful hike, Kerry added: "We can't allow it to be used as a political weapon or as an instrument for aggression."
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The US and its European allies were working "in lockstep" to bring gas to Ukraine from neighbouring Poland and Hungary as well as to develop a route from Slovakia, said the diplomat, who co-chaired the meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on gas supplies from its former Soviet master, has also agreed as part of an IMF bailout package to rein in its energy subsidies.
This would "make their energy market more competitive. This is critical, obviously," Kerry said.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the council said the "developments in Ukraine have brought energy security concerns to the fore and prove the need to reinforce energy security in Europe."
It also delivered a warning to Moscow that "energy relations with Russia must be based on reciprocity, transparency, fairness" in order "to ensure a level playing field for the safe and secure supply of energy."
The meeting came a day after Russia said Ukraine will now pay USD 385.5 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas from the previous cut rate of USD 268.5.
The council vowed to work with Ukraine as it seeks to diversify its gas supplies and transform its system of subsidies "into targeted measures that mitigate the impact of price increases on the poor and vulnerable."
Kerry also highlighted that the US and Europe had work to do to diversify their own supplies, as the United States develops plans to become energy self-sufficient through such technologies as fracking.
"Our new capacities as a gas producer and the approval of seven export licenses is going to help supply gas to global markets, and we look forward to doing that starting in 2015," Kerry said.
"We will supply more gas than all of Europe consumes today.
