The current Ukrainian administration "has lost all bargaining chips" in the negotiations on gas and economic issues with Russia, Ukraine's third president Viktor Yuschenko said.
"Ukraine's pack is now empty. Russia is now saying it's ready to make concessions on the gas price, demanding the gas transport system in exchange. It looks like Ukraine has lost all bargaining tools!" Yuschenko said in an interview published in the Friday edition of the Internet publication Ukrainska Pravda.
Yuschenko reiterated that "if Ukraine had clearly said that the 2009 gas agreements were illegal a year ago, and there were legal grounds for that, the current administration would be in a totally different position now."
Yanukovych "lost all bargaining tools" in the first year of his tenure as president, Yuschenko said.
"It was the new administration's honeymoon [in its relations with Russia]. They drove together in retro cars and in every meeting they would say 'We don't even remember if it's the 11th or the 12th meeting!'" Yuschenko said.
Responding to a question about what Yanukovych really wants now - to be in the Customs Union with Russia or in the free trade zone with Europe - Yuschenko said: "I am now firmly convinced that Yanukovych will not go to the Customs Union."
"It's not because he doesn't want to. On the contrary, I think we wanted that to happen 1.5 years ago. Pro-Russian orientation was always a priority for Yanukovych," Yuschenko said.
