KIEV, March 2 ??“ Ihor Bakay, a close confidant of former President Leonid Kuchma, on Thursday stopped short of naming Ukrainian individuals that allegedly own shares in RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-based controversial natural gas trader.

Bakay, in a television interview from a secret location in Moscow, was widely expected to allege that people close to President Viktor Yushchenko own shares in RosUkrEnergo.