Russia concerned about Odessa-Brody

According to the press-service of the Russian government, Putin expressed this opinion on Monday at a session of the Russian government’s presidium, answering to a remark of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who said Ukraine’s plans to start moving Caspian Sea crude oil via Odessa-Brody in a reverse direction, to the European Union, cause concern among Russian oil companies.

“It would be not reverse, but obverse direction”, Putin said to his deputy.

Sechin also said Moscow would seek alternative export routes after Ukraine had decided to change flows on its Odessa-Brody pipeline to allow Caspian crude to flow to central Europe.

Ukraine currently uses the pipeline in the opposite direction to ship Russian crude to the Mediterranean.

As a reminder, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko last week postponed the supplies of Caspian Sea oil via Odessa-Brody indefinitely by banning the state oil shipper from signing oil contracts.