KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday described as a "great victory" a deal with Russia on gas supplies which avoided a threatened cut in shipments and eliminated intermediaries in trade.
"The gas talks were a great victory for the democraticteam," Tymoshenko told a cabinet meeting after the agreementwas clinched in Moscow, minutes before a Moscow-imposeddeadline on Ukraine to make good payment arrears or face supplycuts.
The row between the two former Soviet states had sentjitters through customers in Europe, who feared it couldescalate into a repeat of early 2006, when a pricing disputebetween Moscow and Kiev disrupted shipments to EU countries.
Tymoshenko returned to office as prime minister in Decemberat the head of a government made up of advocates of the 2004pro-Western "Orange Revolution".
(Reporting by Natalya Zinets, Writing by Ron Popeski)
