Kiev, Moscow gas ties 'ruined' -- official

KIEV, Ukraine, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Kiev is to blame for the destruction of the bilateral energy relationship with the Russian government, a former Ukrainian prime minister said.

Viktor Yanukovych, a former prime minister and challenger to President Viktor Yushchenko in the January elections, said bilateral relations between Kiev and Moscow are at their worst, RIA Novosti reports.

"Never before have we had such unpleasant relations with Russia as at present," the opposition leader told a Ukrainian call-in program.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in an Aug. 11 letter to Yushchenko blamed Kiev for the decline in the relationship with Moscow.

A January row over gas debts and contracts strained bilateral ties further. That dispute led to a regional gas shortage as 80 percent of all Russian gas exports to Europe travels through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine.

Yanukovych, on that note, said he was disappointed that "the entire contractual base in gas relations developed by several Ukrainian governments has been ruined."

The latest criticism against Kiev comes ahead of a Sept. 7 deadline for Ukrainian utility Naftogaz to settle its monthly gas debt with energy giant Gazprom. The deal ending the January dispute places strict requirements on Kiev, which has struggled with its debt obligations for months.