Gas dispute with Ukraine to come to the fore at economic forum

The first leaders of states, representatives of the business elite and ministers from various foreign countries will discuss the consequences of the world financial crisis and ways of getting out of this stalemate. Though Russian gas supplies to Ukraine are not officially included in the forum?s agenda, this subject is likely to hang over the discussion. Earlier, during his visit to Helsinki Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned that transit of gas to Europe via Ukraine might stop late in June or early in July. The same day Russian Vice-Premier Igor Sechin told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Russia wasn?t ready to grant a loan to Ukraine to enable it to buy gas and pump it into its underground storages. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will on Friday deliver a speech at the plenary meeting of the 13th St. Petersburg Economic Forum; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.