Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian president, on Wednesday condemned the decision by parliament to oust his government over last week’s gas deal with Russia but reassured European gas consumers that there would be no disruption to supplies.

After a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Russian president in the Kazakh capital of Astana, Mr Yushchenko said “This process in the Ukrainian parliament is in no way connected to the letter and spirit of the signed agreement”. Earlier on Wednesday, he said that the parliament’s decision was “incomprehensible, illogical and wrong, it simply serves to destabilise the situation.”