Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko Friday accused Russia of trying to monopolize the international nuclear fuel market, the RIA Novosti news agency reports.
"Our partners...are currently working actively to monopolize the uranium enrichment services market. This approach toward nuclear issues is in effect a repetition of the natural gas blackmail scenario that we saw in January," Yushchenko is quoted as saying.
He criticized his own government for failing to draw lessons from the recent gas crisis and for "repeating their mistakes now in the nuclear power sector," RIA Novosti reports.
All of Ukraine's nuclear fuel is imported from Russia under an agreement that expires in 2010.