Ukraine's parliament today demanded the government negotiate a new accord with Russia on gas supplies to replace an agreement providing for steep price increases and sacked top officials linked to that deal.
A total of 246 members backed a resolution just over a week after the 450-seat chamber dismissed the entire government over the Jan. 4 agreement in circumstances denounced as illegal by liberal President Viktor Yushchenko.
The latest resolution, adopted in the heat of campaigning for a March parliamentary poll, said all deals on supplying gas should be negotiated solely by the governments of Ukraine, Russia and other ex-Soviet states exporting gas.
That amounted to a government order to cancel the earlier deal, concluded by Russian gas giant Gazprom and its Ukrainian counterpart Naftogaz Ukrainy days after Russia briefly cut off gas supplies to its southern neighbour.
The latest resolution also dismissed Justice Minister Serhiy Golovaty, Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov and Naftogaz head Oleksiy Ivchenko.
The resolution's final version, submitted just before the vote, softened an earlier text which called for immediate government denunciation of the January 4 deal. It also asked prosecutors to determine whether that accord was legal.
It was not immediately clear what legal consequences the new parliamentary vote would have. Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Mr Yushchenko has previously pledged to respect "every letter" of the gas deal with Russia, signed on Jan. 4 to end a long-running dispute which peaked in the New Year with a two-day halt in gas supplies. Gas customers in Europe were also hit.
Under the new deal, Kiev is to pay $95 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in 2006 compared with $50 previously, with purchases conducted through an intermediary -- little-known company RosUkrEnergo.
Mr Yushchenko welcomed the New Year deal, but it was harshly criticised by opposition politicians, who say any increase in gas prices would deal a severe blow for Ukraine's export-led and energy-hungry economy.