ANALYSIS-Pragmatism to seal Russian gas price deals

By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Barbara Lewis

MOSCOW/LONDON, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Hopes are high that political pragmatism will hold together gas price deals between Russia and its former satellites, lifting the threat of supply cuts for the first new year since January 2005.

Moscow is particularly wary of a damaging rift with Ukraine, under newly-appointed Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, ahead of Russian presidential elections in March and analysts predict any last-minute quibbling should be relatively minor.

"There is very little to gain ... from both sides if they are renegotiating," said Igor Kurinnyy of ING in London.

"If she does nothing, it will look bad for Tymoshenko, so you might see something happening, but I do not expect significant changes to the gas price for Ukraine and I do not expect a repetition of the conflict that the previous Orange government had with Gazprom."

Relations between Russia and Ukraine hit a low in 2005 during Tymoshenko's previous brief premiership.

In spite of her departure, a price dispute at the end of 2005 led to the halting of gas flows to Ukraine at the start of 2006, with a knock-on effect on European supplies.

Energy supplies were again interrupted at the beginning of 2007 following disagreement between Russia and Belarus, which led to the disruption of oil flows through Belarus.

The Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline, through Ukraine and Belarus, supplies Europe with around one tenth of its oil, while 20 percent of Russia's gas exports to Europe flow through Belarus. The remaining roughly 80 percent pass through Ukraine.