Russia learns lessons in PR war over gas supplies

By Sabina Zawadzki - Analysis

KIEV (Reuters) - Russia has shown in its gas price row with Ukraine that it has learnt some lessons in how to handle the media since being widely portrayed as the aggressor during a similar dispute in 2006.

Moscow reduced gas supplies to Kiev on January 1, as it did three years ago, cutting flows to European countries which receive much of their gas through Ukraine. But this time, it has fared better in the public relations battle.

Since the dispute in 2006 the Kremlin has hired one of the world's largest public affairs firms, Omnicom, and its Brussels unit, Gplus Europe.

The world's media have been regularly updated on the actions and intentions of Russian state gas monopoly, keeping up a barrage of information that has so far helped Russia hold its own in the PR war.

"We are very seriously thinking about our reputation because we have a lot to be proud of -- 20 years of reliable supply in very difficult times," Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev told a news conference in London on Tuesday.

"After 2005-2006, we got some lessons because we were wrongly blamed for what happened at that time."

In 2006, the European Union loudly condemned Moscow and openly questioned Russia's reliability as a supplier. The EU's sympathy lay largely with Ukraine following the 2004 "Orange Revolution" which brought pro-Western leaders to power.

But Kiev has lost much of the sympathy it had then because of feuding between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko which has delayed reforms.