KIEV, Jan. 14 - Russia seeks to destabilize Ukraine and to hurt its economy by shutting and refusing to resume natural gas supplies, a top energy security aide to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Wednesday.

Bohdan Sokolovskiy also said that Russia – by recently suggesting technologically unacceptable gas supply routes - is seeking to “unbalance” Ukraine’s gas transportation system in order to get it under its own control.