UPDATE 1-Mogilevich arrest "spells end" for gas middlemen

(Adds details, background, comment)

By Simon Shuster and Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS/MOSCOW, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The arrest of suspected crime boss Semion Mogilevich should signal the end for shadowy middlemen in Ukraine's $6.5 billion gas trade with former Soviet states, Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Monday.

Tymoshenko has previously said Ukrainian-born Mogilevich, arrested last week in Moscow, is behind RosUkrEnergo, a mysterious joint venture which has a monopoly on the sale of Russian and Central Asian gas to Ukraine.

Mogilevich and the Ukrainian businessmen who own 50 percent of RosUkrEnergo have denied any links with each other. Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom, which owns the other half, declined comment. "As far as gas transit from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries is concerned, we don't need any shadowy intermediaries," Tymoshenko told reporters after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels.

"There will be transparency in our government and society. It also concerns energy policy," she said, responding to a question about the detention by Russian police of Mogilevich.

Since regaining the premiership last month, Tymoshenko has resumed a campaign against RosUkrEnergo, which won its monopoly in January 2006 after the price dispute that led Russia to shut off gas to Ukraine in mid-winter.

That jeopardised supplies to Europe, which counts on Russia for 25 percent of its gas needs.

Industry analysts have repeatedly questioned why Ukraine and Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom need RosUkrEnergo at all, since they could deal directly with each other.