2009 Rogers Masters – Singles
This was first time since 1973 on the ATP Tour that the top eight ranked players advanced to the quarterfinals at a single tournament.


2009 Rogers Masters – Singles, Seeds
The top eight seeds received a bye into the second round. All of them reached quarter-finals.


2009 Rolex Sports Car Series
The 2009 Rolex Sports Car Series season is the tenth season of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. It is a 12-race schedule beginning at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and ending at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Miami has been moved from early in the schedule to the end, as it will continue in the joint weekend with the IndyCar Series race, which has also been moved to a season closing race. All races will feature both classes.


2009 Rolex Sports Car Series
The race at Miller Motorsports Park has been changed from a 1000 kilometers race to a 250-mile race. New Jersey Motorsports Park will be moved from Labor Day weekend to May 3. Infineon Raceway, Hermanos Rodriguez, and Lime Rock have been dropped from the schedule, leaving Montreal as the only race outside the US.


2009 Rolex Sports Car Series
The main Daytona Prototype class was won by the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing pairing of Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney after a three-way title battle with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates duo Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, and SunTrust Racing's Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle. Leh Keen and Dirk Werner were comfortable champions in the secondary GT class. Riley Technologies, Ford and Porsche won other titles for highest scoring chassis makers and highest scoring engine manufacturers.


2009 Roma Open
The 2009 Roma Open was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It was part of the 2009 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Rome, Italy between 20 and 26 April 2009.


2009 Roma Open, Singles entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2009 Roma Open, Singles entrants, Other entrants
The following players received lucky loser into the singles main draw:


2009 Roma Open, Champions, Men's doubles
Simon Greul /  Christopher Kas def. Johan Brunström /  Jean-Julien Rojer, 4–6, 7–6(2), [10–2].


2009 Roma Open – Doubles
Flavio Cipolla and Simone Vagnozzi were the defenders of championship title, but Cipolla decided to not participate this year. Vagnozzi chose to play with Leonardo Azzaro, however they lost to James Cerretani and Amir Hadad in the first round. Simon Greul and Christopher Kas won in the final 4–6, 7–6(2), [10–2], against Johan Brunström and Jean-Julien Rojer.


2009 Roma Open – Singles
Eduardo Schwank was the defender of title; however, he chose not to play. Daniel Köllerer won in the final 6–3, 6–3, against Andreas Vinciguerra.


2009 Romanian Figure Skating Championships
The 2009 Romanian Figure Skating Championships took place on 10 January 2009 in Bucharest for men, and between 13 and 15 November 2008 in Galați for ladies. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles and ladies' singles, the latter being held as part of the 2008 Crystal Skate of Romania, on the senior and junior levels. The results were used to choose the Romanian teams to the 2009 World Championships and the 2009 European Championships.


2009 Romanian Figure Skating Championships, Senior results, Ladies
Results derived from the 2008 Crystal Skate of Romania, only Romanian competitors shown.


2009 Romanian parliamentary reform referendum
A referendum on modifying the size and structure of the Parliament from the current bicameral one with 137 senators and 334 deputies to a unicameral one with a maximum of 300 seats was held in Romania on 22 November 2009, at the same time as the first round of the 2009 presidential election. Electors were asked two questions on two separate ballots:


2009 Romanian parliamentary reform referendum
According to the Romanian law, in order for the referendum to be validated, 50% plus one of the total number of eligible voters (i.e. of the number of people that appear on the official electoral list) had to cast their vote. According to the final tally by the Romanian Central Electoral Commission, 9,320,240 of the 18,293,277 eligible voters participated, thus validating the referendum with a turnout rate of 50.95%.


2009 Romanian parliamentary reform referendum, Background
Incumbent President Traian Băsescu signed the decree to hold this plebiscite on 22 October 2009. The previous day, on 21 October, the Romanian Parliament in a consultative vote recommended against the President's proposed referendum, but, according to Romanian referendum law, Parliament's resolution was not binding.


2009 Romanian parliamentary reform referendum, Background
In response to the referendum call, the National Liberal Party, in opposition to incumbent Băsescu, introduced a bill which would downsize Parliament to a total of 316 representatives – 99 senators and 217 deputies. After counting more than 90% of the votes, the authorities announced partial results, including the information that 50.16% of the electorate expressed their votes making the result of the referendum valid.


2009 Romanian parliamentary reform referendum, Aftermath
After the referendum, from 471, the number of parliamentarians kept growing in Romania, due to lack of any legal limitations. In July 2015, after almost 6 years since the referendum was held, the number of Romanian parliamentarians was 588. No other referendum on implementing the legislation has been held in Romania since this one. The only one and last referendum (invalidated) was in 2012 for impeaching the president.


2009 Romanian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2009. The first round took place on 22 November, with a run-off round between the top two candidates Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls suggested a win for Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow victor with 50.33% of the votes. To date, it is the closest election in Romanian history.


2009 Romanian presidential election
The opposition contested the results, citing a "high number of void ballots, modified voting protocols, and massive electoral tourism", vowing to challenge the result in the constitutional court. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) declared that the election "was held generally in line with OSCE commitments", but also urged the authorities to investigate claims of fraud. On 8 December, the Social Democratic Party submitted a request to annul and repeat the run-off to the Constitutional Court, claiming it had been rigged. On 14 December, the Constitutional Court rejected the request after recounting all the annulled votes.


2009 Romanian presidential election
A referendum was held alongside the first round of voting on introducing a unicameral parliament of up to 300 deputies (replacing the existing bicameral parliament) and reducing the number of MPs to 300 but retaining the bicameral structure.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Candidates
There were twelve candidates of which three ran as independents. The candidates of the major parties were: the incumbent Traian Băsescu (formally independent, but supported by Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and the official fraction of Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNŢ-CD), led by Marian Miluţ), Mircea Geoană (Social Democratic Party (PSD)), Crin Antonescu (National Liberal Party (PNL) and the contender fraction of PNŢ-CD, led by Radu Sârbu), Hunor Kelemen (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR)) and Corneliu Vadim Tudor (Greater Romania Party (PRM)). Mayor of Bucharest Sorin Oprescu (formerly PSD member) announced his candidacy as an independent candidate on 5 October 2009; Băsescu also had been mayor of Bucharest before becoming president.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Candidates
Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen, husband of Princess Margarita of Romania first announced his candidacy to the office of President on 9 April 2009, but later withdrew.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, First round
The main contenders, incumbent Băsescu and the President of the Parliament Mircea Geoană, offered different ways to tackle the economic crisis, Romania being in the grip of severe recession with the economy expected to contract eight percent in 2009. While Geoană offered to increase investment to beat the recession and promised "vigorous measures" such as building affordable flats for young people and giving cheap credits to enterprises in order to help create jobs, Băsescu pledged to cut public spending. Băsescu also promised more equity to people living in the countryside.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, First round
Christian Mititelu, a political commentator quoted by the BBC, argued that due to extremely vigorous political strife there was no real campaign debate about how the economy should recover or on the structure of the next year's budget, and that the public were not sufficiently aware of these economic issues, while the contenders did not attempt to communicate and involve the public in such decisions.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, First round
Băsescu tried to portray himself as the champion of the people against what he called "the corrupt political elite". A widely used election poster carried the text: "They cannot avoid what they are afraid of". Băsescu's opponents countered that he is part of that elite, simply with different backers. In a Cluj-Napoca meeting with supporters he claimed he "was the one to stop doubtful privatisations", implicitly accusing rival Social-Democrats of underhand practices while in power. He vowed to fight against the Parliament, which blocked his bid to install the Croitoru cabinet, and the "media moguls".


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, First round
In the campaign for the first round, his favorite campaign theme was reducing the number of lawmakers. This theme proved popular with the overwhelming majority of the electorate voting for the reduction of the number of lawmakers from current 471 to a maximum of 300, and in favor of a transition from the current bicameral parliament to a unicameral one in a referendum held simultaneously with the first round of elections. One of Basescu's favorite themes is his fight against parliament and media moguls such as businessmen Dan Voiculescu, Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, and Dinu Patriciu, politicians Ion Iliescu, Viorel Hrebenciuc, and Marian Vanghelie.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, First round
The main counter-candidate, Geoană, on the other hand, described himself as a "man of dialogue", who can "restore Romania's unity", allegedly "jeopardized" by Basescu. A former ambassador to the United States, former foreign minister, and a seasoned diplomat, Geoană edged aside more powerful figures in his Social Democratic party.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, First round
In the first round held on 22 November, Băsescu came first with 32.44% of the votes, and Geoană second with 31.15%. According to a BBC analyst a victory by Geoană would be caused by the numerous enemies Băsescu has made during his tenure, especially in the media. On the other hand, a victory of the incumbent could be generated by his counter-candidate alleged lack of "human touch", and because doubts remain over his ability to control the "red barons" in his own party. Crin Antonescu [of the National Liberals who scored third with 20.02%] was the first choice of all those who are fed up with Băsescu but could not bring themselves to vote Socialist. His voters hold the key to victory on 6 December.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, Second round
Although Băsescu claimed the results of the first round were "a significant vote for the right" because he and Crin Antonescu together received over 50% of the vote, the next day Antonescu refused to back Băsescu in the runoff, and shortly thereafter announced an alliance with Geoană. Subsequently, Băsescu reproached Antonescu to "have thrown himself in the arms of the Social-Democrat party, a party opposed to reforms", and added "This alliance will bring us back to 20 years ago when the PSD was controlling all state institutions". Antonescu in turn called Băsescu "a demagogue and a populist", and vowed to support Geoană as "the lesser of two evils". Geoană also gained the support of Béla Markó with his UDMR and George Becali with his New Generation Party – Christian Democratic.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, Second round
Sorin Oprescu decided not to support anyone and Corneliu Vadim Tudor with his PRM—at national level—called his voters to boycott the runoff round; however the PRM in Sibiu county decided to support Geoană. Geoană announced he would nominate Klaus Iohannis as prime minister if he won.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Campaign, Second round
Geoană promised to appoint Klaus Iohannis as Prime Minister of Romania if he was elected president. Iohannis was the candidate supported by a majority in the Parliament of Romania. Romania had a caretaker government since the government of Emil Boc fell on 13 October. The parliament rejected Traian Băsescu's nomination of Lucian Croitoru for new prime minister on 4 November.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Opinion polls
Note: Opinion polls have been criticised in this election for their unreliability, with large differences in results obtained between different polling agencies.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Results
Both runoff candidates declared themselves winners after tight exit polls. On Monday, 7 December 2009 at 8 am, BEC published the first official partial results, after having counted the votes from 95.4% of the total of 21706 poll stations. According to these partial results, Traian Băsescu had achieved 50.43% of the total eligible votes, while Mircea Geoană got the rest of 49.57%. The official partial results tallied at 10:16 am (Monday, 7 December 2009) attested that Traian Băsescu achieved 50.37% of the total eligible votes and Mircea Geoană 49.62%.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Results
A majority of 78.86% the votes from abroad, fully counted in this tally, went for Băsescu (115,831 to 31,045). Some 94% of the estimated 200,000 Moldovans with Romanian citizenship who voted in the election cast their vote for Basescu, who has been a vocal advocate of Moldovans' right to regain Romanian citizenship. Following final results, Sibiu mayor Klaus Iohannis announced that he is abandoning his bid to become prime minister in the current situation. Romanian stock markets fell to a four-month low after the official results were announced, deepening a political crisis that threatens ties with international lenders.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Results
Crin Antonescu openly endorsed Mircea Geoană in the second round.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Aftermath, Accusations of electoral fraud
The opposition has decided to contest the result; Mircea Geoană announced that the Social Democrats will contest the elections at the Constitutional Court and will submit evidence of electoral fraud. PSD Secretary General Liviu Dragnea cited "a high number of void ballots, modified voting protocols, and massive electoral tourism". Dragnea stated: "Romanians voted for Mircea Geoană, but Băsescu's state apparatus is trying to make him the presidential winner through fraud". Former Prime Minister Adrian Năstase and former President Ion Iliescu, both PSD members, also stated that they doubted the results.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Aftermath, Accusations of electoral fraud
Mircea Geoană has also stated that the Social Democrats exclude any collaboration with Băsescu and his party, and maintain the majority with the Liberals and Hungarian Democrats, while Crin Antonescu also stated that the Liberal Party excludes "any participation in a Traian Băsescu puppet government".


2009 Romanian presidential election, Aftermath, Constitutional Court proceedings
On 8 December, the Social Democratic Party submitted their request to annul and repeat the presidential election run-off to the Constitutional Court, saying the election was rigged.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Aftermath, Constitutional Court proceedings
On 11 December, in an unprecedented decision the Constitutional Court decided to recount all 138,476 invalid votes. After 137,613 invalid votes recounted, only 2,137 were revalidated (1.6% of recounted invalid votes), 1,169 votes for Traian Băsescu and 968 for Mircea Geoană.


2009 Romanian presidential election, Aftermath, Constitutional Court proceedings
On 14 December, the Constitutional Court rejected the request to repeat the presidential elections, paving the way to validate Băsescu's election. The same day, Geoană admitted defeat and wished Băsescu good luck in his second term in office.


2009 Roscommon County Council election
An election to Roscommon County Council took place on 5 June 2009 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 26 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office.


2009 Rose Bowl
The 2009 Rose Bowl, the 95th edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game played on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at the same-named stadium in Pasadena, California. Because of sponsorship by Citi, the first game in the 2009 edition of the Bowl Championship Series was officially titled the "Rose Bowl Game presented by citi". The contest was televised on ABC with a radio broadcast on ESPN Radio beginning at 4:30 PM US EST with kickoff at 5:10 PM. Ticket prices for all seats in the Rose Bowl were listed at $145. The Rose Bowl Game was a contractual sell-out, with 64,500 tickets allocated to the participating teams and conferences. The remaining tickets went to the Tournament of Roses members, sponsors, City of Pasadena residents, and the general public.


2009 Rose Bowl
Scoring 24 unanswered points in the second quarter, the Pacific-10 Conference Champion University of Southern California Trojans defeated the Big Ten Conference co-champion, the Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions, 38-24, for their third consecutive Rose Bowl victory (in their fourth consecutive appearance, having lost the 2006 BCS title game to the Texas Longhorns). The victory gave the Trojans their 24th Rose Bowl championship, the most by any team in the country. Quarterback Mark Sanchez scored five touchdowns, one rushing and four passing.


2009 Rose Bowl
Prior to the game, the Pac-10 conference had a 4-0 record in bowl games this season with wins by Arizona, Cal, Oregon, and Oregon State. The Trojan win gave the Pac-10 a perfect five out of five games, which was the only perfect conference bowl record of the season. The Big Ten conference had last won a Rose Bowl game in the 1999 season; this streak ended when Ohio State beat Oregon in the 2010 Rose Bowl.


2009 Rose Bowl, Teams
The teams participating in the Rose Bowl Game were announced on Sunday, December 7, by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses football committee. Big Ten co-champions, Penn State, coached by Joe Paterno, were picked to play against Southern California, the champions of the Pac-10, coached by Pete Carroll. Penn State earned its bid via a head-to-head tiebreaker, beating Ohio State, 13–6 in Columbus, Ohio, on October 25, 2008. The Men of Troy earned their way in by defeating UCLA 28-7 on December 6, 2008. USC was designated as the home team, wearing dark jerseys and using the east bench on game day.


2009 Rose Bowl, Teams
The 2009 game marked the first time since 2004 Rose Bowl that the traditional teams—the champions of the Big Ten and the Pac-10—squared off at the Rose Bowl, because at least one league champion played in the BCS Championship in each the previous four years. In the 2005 Rose Bowl, Big Ten champion Michigan met Texas, as USC played Oklahoma in the designated BCS Championship Game that year, the Orange Bowl.


2009 Rose Bowl, Teams
The following year, USC met Texas in the game, which was designated as that year's BCS National Championship contest; Big Ten champion Penn State played in the Orange Bowl against Florida State. For the 2007 and 2008 games, the runners-up of the Big Ten were sent to this game, since the champion, Ohio State, participated in the newly established separate BCS Championship Game: the Wolverines played in 2007 and Illinois would do so the following year; both teams played (and lost to) the Trojans.


2009 Rose Bowl, Teams
Each team lost just one game during the 2008 regular season. Penn State was defeated by Iowa (24-23) and Southern California lost to Oregon State (27-21). USC and Penn State had faced two common opponents in the regular season. Both teams defeated Ohio State and Penn State beat Oregon State prior to the Beavers' defeat of the Trojans.


2009 Rose Bowl, Teams
Penn State had appeared in the Rose Bowl twice before, losing to the Trojans 14-3 in 1923 in their only previous meeting in "The Granddaddy Of Them All", and winning in 1995 over 1994 Pac-10 champion Oregon 38-20, the latter game capped an unbeaten season in which Penn State finished #2 in both major polls. The Trojans have played in the Rose Bowl more times than any other team and made its fourth consecutive appearance in 2009. The two teams have faced each other eight times, with each team winning four games. The Kickoff Classic XVIII on August 27, 2000, in Giants Stadium at East Rutherford, New Jersey, was the last time they met: the Trojans defeated the Nittany Lions, 29-5.


2009 Rostelecom Cup
The 2009 Rostelecom Cup was the second event of six in the 2009–10 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Megasport Arena in Moscow on October 22–25. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2009–10 Grand Prix Final. The compulsory dance was the Tango Romantica.


2009 Rostelecom Cup
The event was renamed in 2009 after Rostelecom, the sponsor of Russian Figure Skating Federation.


2009 Rostov-on-Don bus crash
The 2009 Rostov bus crash was a collision between a bus and a Mercedes-Benz Actros 1841LS oil tanker near Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, Russia. 21 people died, and 8 others were injured.


2009 Rostov-on-Don bus crash, Incident
27 passengers were on board the bus. The drivers of both vehicles were killed. The accident happened at 12:48. 21 people were killed in the crash. 8 people were in a serious condition in hospital.


2009 Rostov-on-Don bus crash, Incident, Route
The bus was on the highway route between Krasnodar and Volgodonsk. The bus had come from the town of Kurgantsy, heading towards Taganrog. The truck had crossed into the opposing lane and collided with the Ikarus 256.75 bus.


2009 Rostov-on-Don bus crash, Investigation
The Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Rostov Oblast said there had been 27 passengers on board the bus. The bus had a capacity to take 45 people. An investigation was opened for the crash.


2009 Royal Bank Cup
The 2009 Royal Bank Cup is the 39th Junior "A" 2009 ice hockey National Championship for the Canadian Junior Hockey League. 2009 marked the 14th year the Royal Bank Cup has been awarded and the 39th year of modern Junior "A" hockey.


2009 Royal Bank Cup
The Royal Bank Cup was competed for by the winners of the Doyle Cup, Anavet Cup, Dudley Hewitt Cup, the Fred Page Cup and the host city, the Victoria Grizzlies of the British Columbia Hockey League.


2009 Royal Bank Cup
The tournament was hosted by the Victoria Grizzlies and run from May 2 to May 10 of 2009 with games played at the Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria, British Columbia.


2009 Royal Bank Cup
The Vernon Vipers won the 2009 Royal Bank Cup with a 2-0 win over the Humboldt Broncos.


2009 Royal Bank of Scotland Challenger
The 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the third edition of the tournament which was part of the 2009 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Tiburon, United States between 12 and 18 October 2009. It was part of the Tiburon Challenger series.


2009 Royal Bank of Scotland Challenger, ATP entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2009 Royal Bank of Scotland Challenger, Champions, Doubles
Treat Conrad Huey /  Harsh Mankad def. Ilija Bozoljac /  Dušan Vemić, 6–4, 6–4


2009 Royal Bank of Scotland Challenger – Doubles
Treat Conrad Huey and Harsh Mankad defeated Serbian pair Ilija Bozoljac and Dušan Vemić 6–4, 6–4 in the final.


2009 Royal Bank of Scotland Challenger – Singles
Go Soeda won the title, after win against Ilija Bozoljac 3–6, 6–3, 6–2 in the final match.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes
The 2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes is an industrial dispute in the United Kingdom involving Royal Mail and members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which began in the summer of 2009. It was the country's first industrial action involving postal workers since 2007 and came about after the Communication Workers Union accused Royal Mail of refusing to enter into dialogue regarding how the implementation of modernisation plans would affect the job security of postal workers.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes
The strike action began on a local level after postal workers at Royal Mail offices in London and Edinburgh accused their bosses of cutting jobs and services, which they claimed broke the 2007 Pay and Modernisation Agreement, the agreement that was struck to end the 2007 strikes, and accused Royal Mail of threatening modernisation of the service. After a series of localised walkouts over the summer months, and after failing to reach an agreement, the CWU opened a national ballot for industrial action in September 2009.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes
On 8 October, it was announced that postal workers had voted three to one in favour of taking strike action over job security and working conditions. It was later announced that a national strike would be held on Thursday 22 October and Friday 23 October. After further talks failed, more strikes were announced to take place on Thursday 29 October, Friday 30 October and Saturday 31 October.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes
Discussions continued throughout the second wave of strikes with proposals being put to both sides, but these were overshadowed by the announcement of a third walkout on Friday 6 November and Monday 9 November. However, on 5 November it was announced that strikes had been called off until the New Year to allow time for fresh talks to take place. A resolution to the dispute was finally reached following lengthy discussions on 8 March 2010, and on 27 April it was reported that postal workers voted to accept the deal.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Background
Central to the 2009 dispute was the agreement that ended the 2007 round of strikes. The 2007 Pay and Modernisation Agreement saw the parties involved agree to a four-phase plan, which would be implemented with dialogue between both sides at each stage of the process. However, the Communication Workers Union said that although Royal Mail had carried out three of the phases in this way, it had refused to discuss the final phase, which concerned the government's plans for modernisation, and how these would affect the job security of Royal Mail employees.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Background
One of the key aspects of Royal Mail's modernisation drive involved the introduction of the walk sequencing machine that organises mail into the order the postman will deliver them on his round. The union feared that a national introduction of this equipment would lead to thousands of full-time workers being made redundant and a significant increase in the number of part-time staff.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Background
The Communication Workers Union argued that although it had signed up to this part of the agreement in 2007 and that the plans would make it necessary for some jobs to be lost, it had not understood the exact nature of Royal Mail's plan. Furthermore, the union said that when Royal Mail stopped talking to staff about the long-term effects of job security, there had been no choice other than to threaten a strike to restart discussions. Royal Mail, on the other hand, said that it had not stopped talking to the union and continued to involve it in its modernisation strategy.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Localised strike action
Localised strike action began in June 2009 when workers at Royal Mail offices in London and Edinburgh staged a 24-hour strike on 19 June over concerns about the impact that modernisation would have on postal workers. This was followed the next day by a similar walkout in parts of Scotland. Speaking about the situation at the time Dave Ward, the CWU's deputy general secretary said, "We are now seeing cuts but not modernisation in the postal industry and there's only so long before this is going have a major impact on services.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Localised strike action
The CWU does not and has not blocked change. Once again we are seeing Royal Mail working against the union and failing to engage the workforce." Ward also said that his union would offer Royal Mail and the government a three-month no-strike deal if Royal Mail fulfilled its part of the 2007 agreement.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Localised strike action
However, talks between the Communication Workers Union and Royal Mail failed to broker a deal. The CWU criticised Royal Mail's business policy as "chaos management" and in August and September the localised strike intensified. By September it was estimated that there was a backlog of 20 million undelivered letters. On 10 September the CWU announced plans to hold a national ballot on strike action, the results of which were expected to be announced on 30 September during the Labour Party Conference. Royal Mail responded to the announcement by saying that the decision to go ahead with the ballot was "wholly irresponsible" as talks were still ongoing.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action
Ballot papers proposing a national strike were sent out to union members on 17 September. On 8 October it was announced that postal workers had voted three to one in favour of taking strike action over job security and working conditions. The first round of strikes were later scheduled for Thursday 22 October and Friday 23 October. These would consist of two 24-hour stoppages, with mail centre staff and drivers striking on 22 October and delivery and collection staff doing likewise the following day.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action
Talks between Royal Mail and the CWU continued, but relations were strained by the emergence of a leaked document suggesting that Royal Mail would achieve its reforms "with or without union engagement". CWU general secretary Billy Hayes called the document's contents "an organised attempt to sideline the union" and expressed his concern that Business Secretary Peter Mandelson appeared to be familiar with it. Furthermore, following the first round of strikes, it emerged that both sides had been "tantalisingly close" to brokering a deal on the evening of 20 October, but that Royal Mail had backed away from this the following morning. Consequently, the strikes went ahead as planned.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action
New talks were announced on 24 October, which would be brokered by the TUC and chaired by its general secretary Brendan Barber. Peter Mandelson welcomed the talks, describing them as "an opportunity to break the deadlock". Further strikes were also announced for the last three days of October, which would involve mail centre staff on 29 and 30 October and delivery staff on 31 October.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action
Three days of negotiations aimed at ending the dispute began on 26 October, but although they were described by Barber as having been useful, they ended without agreement and the second wave of strikes went ahead. Royal Mail later blamed a hard core element of London postal union leaders for refusing to endorse a proposal that both sides had agreed to.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action
Discussions were held during the second wave of strikes, when Brendan Barber announced on the afternoon of Friday 30 October that proposals had been put to both Royal Mail and the CWU for them to consider over the weekend. Talks resumed on the Monday, however this news was overshadowed by the announcement that a further two days of strikes would be held on Friday 6 November and Monday 9 November.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action
It was also announced that these would be all out strikes with everybody walking out at the same time rather than the rolling strike action that had been adopted previously, thus leading to a complete stoppage throughout the course of the action. These were later called off in order for further talks to take place.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action, Effects
The strike action led to a backlog of tens of millions of items of undelivered mail, with an estimated 30 million letters and parcels affected after the first wave of walkouts, and rising to in excess of 50 million following the second.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action, Effects
On Tuesday 3 November a YouGov poll conducted for The Daily Telegraph appeared to show that public support for the industrial action had dropped in comparison to a similar poll conducted two weeks earlier.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Strike ballot and national action, Effects
It was also reported that the CWU had started a fighting fund to help support postal workers who were experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the strike. Postmen lose a day's pay for each day they strike, and although most workers had lost just two days pay so far, many in the London area who had taken part in previous industrial action earlier in the year had lost as much as 18 days of wages. There was also speculation that the CWU lacked the funds for a lengthy dispute and donations to the union's fighting fund were pledged by other unions, including UNISON and Unite.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Suspension of strike action
On 5 November, the eve of the first planned all out strike it was announced that strike action had been called off until at least the New Year to allow for what Brendan Barber described as "a period of calm" in which both Royal Mail and the CWU could reach a long term agreement. But he added that although the postal service would be free from disruption over the Christmas period, a long term deal was still some distance away. The CWU also announced on the same day that it would not press ahead with a legal challenge to Royal Mail's employment of temporary workers to clear the backlog, which had been due to begin at the High Court the following day.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Resolution
Following lengthy discussions between Royal Mail managers and union representatives a deal to settle the dispute was finally agreed to on 8 March 2010. This would see Royal Mail workers receiving a 6.9% pay rise over three years (worth 2% in 2010, 1.4% in 2011 and 3.5% in 2012), while extra payments worth up to £1,400 would be made to full-time workers once all the agreed changes have been made. These will take the form of a £400 payment following the agreement of union members and a further £1,000 to be paid once the planned changes have been implemented. In addition the Royal Mail agreed to keep 75% of the workforce as full-time, rather than part-time staff, and to reduce working hours from 40 to 39 hours a week. In exchange, the CWU agreed to Royal Mail's modernisation strategy which include plans to introduce the automated walk sequencing machinery.


2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes, Resolution
Welcoming the deal, the deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Dave Ward said, "It's been a long time coming, but this deal delivers on the major issues that postal workers have fought for. There's a balance of pay and operational changes that will help to offset job losses and ensure our members are fairly rewarded for change." Royal Mail's outgoing chief executive, Adam Crozier said that the resolution was "a good deal for our customers as it ensures stability over the next three years," and allowed Royal Mail to proceed with modernisation. On 27 April the Communication Workers Union announced that its members had voted two to one in favour of the deal, thus ending the dispute.


2009 Royal Trophy
The 2009 Royal Trophy was the third edition of the Royal Trophy, a team golf event contested between teams representing Asia and Europe. It was held from 9–11 January at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand. The Asian team won for the first time, by a margin of 10 points to 6.


2009 Rugby League European Bowl
The competition took place again in 2009 with Ukraine joining Estonia and Latvia; the winners were Ukraine.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations
The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Tri-Nations tournament. Played in England and France over three weeks from Friday, 23 October until Saturday, 14 November, France and England competed for the first time, with Great Britain's permanent split into the home nations' national teams following the 2007 New Zealand All Golds Tour. The tournament culminated in a final between world number 1 side Australia and hosts England. After 60 minutes of highly competitive football, Australia ran away with the match, scoring a barrage of late tries to win 46–16.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations
The 2009 series was the first of three Four Nations series planned before the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, with the venues rotating between Europe and the South Pacific. The RLIF also stated that the next Four Nations would be held 2010.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Qualification
The Four Nations is run in partnership between the Australian Rugby League, Rugby Football League and New Zealand Rugby League representing the top three nations in the sport: Australia, England and New Zealand. A fourth partner, Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII, accepted an invitation to enter France in the inaugural 2009 tournament.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams
Each team was to play the other three once during the round robin tournament. The top two finishing teams would then contest the final.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads
Each nation was to choose a 24-man squad in order to participate for the Four Nations.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, Australia
*Replaced originally selected Israel Folau who withdrew due to injury.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, Australia
Of the twenty four players, twenty three were Australian born while one was Fijian born.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, New Zealand
Of the twenty four players, nineteen were New Zealand born while four were Australian born and one Tongan born.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, New Zealand
1 Ruled out of the rest of the series on 5 November after breaking his hand in the Round two victory over France.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, New Zealand
2 Registered as a member of the squad before the tournament started but this was not revealed to the media until he was called to Europe from Australia by the Kiwis on 25 October.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, New Zealand
3 The only non National Rugby League player in the squad.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, England
1 Replaced originally selected Sean O'Loughlin who withdrew due to injury. 2 The only non Super League player in the squad.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Participating teams, Squads, France
Of the twenty seven players, eighteen were French born while three were Australian born, three New Zealand born, one Moroccan born and one New Caledonia born.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Referees
Four referees were nominated for the tournament by the governing bodies of the participating teams. One from each of the participating nations. The nominated referees were:


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Venues
There were several venues used during the tournament throughout England and France.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Venues, Final
The Four Nations Final was played at the Elland Road stadium in Leeds, England.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round one, England vs France
After trailing 12–4 at half-time, England scored 30 consecutive points to defeat France 34–12, who were coached by former Great Britain half, Bobbie Goulding.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round one, New Zealand vs Australia
For Australia Ben Hannant, Brett Morris and Brett White were selected to make their debuts. Petero Civoniceva was selected despite not having played any football since he injured his leg in game 2 of the 2009 State of Origin series in June.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round one, New Zealand vs Australia
When Australian captain Darren Lockyer took the field for this match, he surpassed Mal Meninga's record for most international caps for the Kangaroos. After 6–6 at half-time, Australia quickly went to a 14–6 lead before New Zealand scored fourteen points in a row to make it 14–20. Australia's Cameron Smith scored a try and Johnathan Thurston made the conversion to level the scores with less than five minutes left to play. The score finished at 20-20. The crowd of 12,360 at Twickenham Stoop stadium set a new attendance ground record for a rugby league match.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round two, England vs Australia
Changes made to the Australian side included the removal of Sam Thaiday, Ryan Hoffman, Trent Waterhouse and Kurt Gidley. Taking their places were débutants Luke Lewis and David Shillington as well as Robbie Farah and also Nathan Hindmarsh, making his test football comeback. Australian captain Darren Lockyer equalled Ken Irvine's record of 33 test tries for Australia by scoring in this match. On a warm and sunny day, the Kangaroos went into half-time 26-0 up and after Australia defeated England 52–4 in their previous meeting in last year's Rugby League World Cup, the English looked set for another thrashing. However, England made an ambitious fight-back in the second half but, keeping Australia scoreless to lose by a more respectable margin of 26–16. Towards the end of the match, Johnathan Thurston was sent to the sin bin.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round two, New Zealand vs France
New Zealand were leading 16–6 at half-time. France got to within 4 points of New Zealand at 16-12 before New Zealand scored 46 points in a row to comfortably win 62–12. New Zealand's Bryson Goodwin scored 22 individual points and Sam Perrett scored a hat-trick of tries. This loss ended the French hopes of making the finals.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, Australia vs France
The Kangaroos had not played in Paris since 1994. They went into the match having won their last 14 matches against France. Due to French laws prohibiting the use of alcohol advertising in sport, the Australian jerseys' usual Victoria Bitter logo was replaced by one for Movember. Debuting for Australia were Brett Morris' twin brother Josh Morris and New South Wales State of Origin centre Michael Jennings. By playing in this match, Darren Lockyer surpassed Clive Churchill's record for most games as Australian captain.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, Australia vs France
For the first 20 minutes the contest was quite even, being played at both ends of the field with both sides getting and conceding penalties. It was the Australians who scored first when debutant Michael Jennings dummied his way through the defence from 20 metres out to score out wide. Johnathan Thurston's conversion attempt missed, so France were down 4 nil with 18 minutes of the first half remaining. Jennings also scored the second try of the match in the 27th minute when Lockyer threw a cutout pass to him in front of France's line. Thurston again failed to add the extras, so the score remained at 8 nil. The score did not change from then till half time, with both sides' defence holding each other's attacking opportunities out.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, Australia vs France
After receiving France's kick-off and making their way up-field with the help of a penalty, the Australians scored in only the 2nd minute of the half when Luke Lewis powered his way through the defence from about 12 metres out. With Cooper Cronk on the field instead of Johnathan Thurston, Kurt Gidley was given kicking duties and converted the try, pushing Australia's lead out to 14 nil.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, Australia vs France
In the 45th minute the Kangaroos scored again after a Cooper Cronk 40/20 kick put them in an attacking position and they moved the ball out to Brett Morris' wing where he dived over untouched in the corner. Gidley's sideline conversion attempt missed so the score was 18 nil. Morris got his second try just a few minutes later when Darren Lockyer kicked ahead for him from 35 metres out. Gidley kicked the extras so Australia's lead was 24 nil.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, Australia vs France
the Kangaroos continued to dominate possession and in the 56th minute Jennings got his hat-trick with a long-range try when he regathered a French dropped ball 30 metres out from Australia's line. Jennings thus became the 4th Kangaroo since Lionel Morgan in 1960, Brad Mackay in 1990 and David Williams in 2008 to score a hat-trick on debut for Australia. Thurston, back on the field kicked his first successful goal of the match to push the score out to 30 nil with over 25 minutes of play to go.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, Australia vs France
In the 61st minute France made the most of an attacking opportunity when Tomas Bosc kicked over the Australian defence where Olivier Elima leapt for it, coming down with the ball over the line. Bosc's conversion attempt missed so the score was 30–4 with 18 minutes remaining. Josh Morris then got a try at the 69-minute mark when he received the ball from his twin brother Brett after the Australians had kept the ball alive. Thurston kicked the extras so the score was 36–4. Josh Morris then got his second try a little over 2 minutes later when the Australians moved the ball out to his wing from a scrum win 30 metres out. Thurston's successful conversion made the score 42-4 and this is what it would be at the final whistle.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, Australia vs France
The victory for Australia meant they would face the winner of the match between New Zealand and England to be played in Huddersfield later that evening.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, New Zealand vs England
The last time these two sides met was in the 2008 World Cup when they played each other for the chance to face Australia in the final. On that occasion New Zealand won, sending England back home. This time they were playing for the chance to face Australia in the Four Nations final. New Zealand could draw and still make the final, while England needed to win to advance. In all of England's prior games, they had lost the first half but had won and not conceded a point in the second half.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, New Zealand vs England
For this match England coach Tony Smith dropped Danny McGuire, Lee Smith and Tom Briscoe in favour of Peter Fox, Chris Bridge and Jon Wilkin. For New Zealand, Greg Eastwood and Steve Matai were out with injury so Jeff Lima was recalled and 19-year-old Kieran Foran was brought in to make his international debut ahead of Krisnan Inu.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, New Zealand vs England
England got the first points of the match when they attacked up the middle, Sam Burgess spinning out of a tackle to send Kyle Eastmond over under the black dot just on 9 minutes. Sinfield's conversion from right in front was successful so England were out to a 6 nil lead. New Zealand responded 5 minutes later, moving the ball out wide to Bryson Goodwin's wing where he dived over in the corner. He couldn't convert his own try though, so the score was left at 6–4.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, New Zealand vs England
In the 29th minute New Zealand were awarded a penalty right in front of the goal-posts and took the two points, leveling the score at 6 all. Six minutes later England were up at the Kiwis' end of the field again, attacking the line, when Sam Tomkins kicked across-field to Peter Fox's corner where the winger dived on the ball. Sinfield kicked the extras from the sideline so England were again a converted try in front with just over 4 minutes remaining. England continued dominating field position and scored again in the 39th minute from a scrum win near England's line, the ball going through the hands out to Peter Fox to score his second. Sinfield again added the extras, pushing England's lead out to 18–6.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, New Zealand vs England
New Zealand opened the scoring after just a minute and a half into the second hand when at the halfway line Isaac Luke made a break from dummy-half, his offload finding support players who got the ball out to Ben Matulino who scored. Bryson Goodwin's kick added the extras, bringing the Kiwis back within a converted try, trailing 18–12. The play for the next half-hour went from end to end, with both teams getting good attacking opportunities but both teams' defences holding them out.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Round three, New Zealand vs England
Then when England were close to New Zealand's line they were awarded a penalty for ruck interference and with less than 10 minutes remaining, decided to take the kick for an 8-point lead. Sinfield's kick was successful so the score was 20–12 in favour of the home team. England were able to hold New Zealand out for the remaining minutes of the match and so earned a place in the final. Kevin Sinfield, in the unfamiliar position of hooker was named man-of-the-match.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
The Australian team for the final had the Queensland team's halves pairing, front row, centre pairing and fullback, while both wingers, the whole back row, three-quarters of the bench and the coach were New South Walshmen.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
By playing in this match, Darren Lockyer became the first Australian in history to play in fifty international matches for his country. In addition, teammate and fellow Queenslander, Petero Civoniceva became the most-capped forward, breaking Johnny Raper's record by earning his 40th cap.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
It took Australia till the ninth minute to cross England's line. Quick passing out to Brett Morris on the right wing saw him dive over in the corner, but the video referee ruled that he'd lost control of the ball in the grounding of it so no try was allowed. In England's very next set of six, they had reached Australia's half when NRL-bound loose forward Sam Burgess charged through the Kangaroos' defence, running forty-five metres and dummying past the fullback to score under the posts. Sinfield's conversion put England ahead 6 nil after eleven minutes of play.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
In the fourteenth minute Australia responded: a cut-out pass from Johnathan Thurston on England's try-line was flicked on by Justin Hodges' fingertips to Morris, who this time got his try. Thurston kicked the conversion from near the sideline so the scores were level at 6 all. A few minutes later England were back attacking Australia's line, when on the final tackle Eastmond put a kick up to his right winger Peter Fox, who beat Jarryd Hayne in the leap for the ball to come down with the try, putting the home team back in front.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
Sinfield missed the conversion attempt so the score was 10–6 with twenty minutes of the first half remaining. Five minutes later Hayne made a good break from half way, kicking ahead for Greg Inglis to chase through and ground the ball. The video referee checked Inglis' grounding and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Thurston kicked the extras so Australia had the lead again 12–10 with fourteen minutes of the first half left. At the thirty-minute mark England were penalised right in front of their goal posts and Australia opted to take the kick, Thurston's boot pushing Australia's lead out to four. No further points were scored in the first half so they went into the break at England 10, Australia 14.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
After ten minutes of sustained pressure on Australia's defence England were through, Burgess again charging over under the posts from close range. Sinfield's kick added the Extras so once again England had the lead at 16–14. A little over three minutes later it was Australia attacking England's line when their fullback Billy Slater dove over from dummy-half, the lead changing again to be back with the Kangaroos. Thurston couldn't get the conversion so Australia's lead stayed at only two points, 18–16.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
In the fifty-eighth minute the Kangaroos were on the attack again when Thurston chipped ahead from twenty metres out for Brett Morris to chase through and score in the corner behind the England defence. The conversion attempt by Thurston was missed so Australia lead 22–16 with twenty-one minutes of the match remaining. Shortly after the kick-off following the try England's Michael Shenton suffered a head clash when trying to tackle front-row forward Ben Hannant and the game was halted as he was stretchered unconscious from the field.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
Moments after the restart of play Hannant himself was concussed when tackled by James Graham but played on. Australia scored a remarkable try after sixty-six minutes when Darren Lockyer chipped over the top into England's in goal and Slater, chasing through leapt over the dead ball line to slap the ball back in with his hand for Cameron Smith to dive on and claim the four points. Thurston's kick from right in front did not miss so Australia lead 28–16.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
As the Kangaroos returned the ball after a short kick-off from England they reached the opposition's end of the field and Slater scored again after backing up a good break from Smith. The conversion from Thurston was an easy one so the score was 34–16 in favour of the visitors with under ten minutes of the match remaining. In the seventy-third minute Jarryd Hayne got a try after running through to chase a Lockyer grubber. Thurston added the extras, Australia's lead now 40–16 with a little over five minutes left to play.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Final
The Australians got one more try though when Kurt Gidley made a break around the halfway line and kicked ahead, Billy Slater winning the race to the ball to claim his hat-trick in the seventy-seventh minute. Man-of-the-match Thurston added the extras so the score was 46-16 when the final hooter sounded. It was England's heaviest loss to Australia on home soil.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Non-series Tests
Before the series, New Zealand and England played additional Tests against Tonga and Wales respectively.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Non-series Tests, New Zealand vs Tonga
New Zealand led 24–8 at half-time before Tonga fought back to level the scores at 24-24. New Zealand went on to score 16 unanswered points to win the match 40–24.


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Non-series Tests, Wales vs England
England lead Wales 20-12 approaching the hour, before racking up 28 points in the last quarter..


2009 Rugby League Four Nations, Broadcast details
The competition was televised in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and France.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens
The 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup was the fifth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the host venue for the tournament ahead of bids from four other countries. The format included nine direct qualifiers and a further fifteen qualifiers from all six regions defined by the IRB. A women's version of the world cup was also held alongside the men's tournament for the first time and featured sixteen teams. The men's cup was won by Wales, with the women's cup going to Australia.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens
The men's teams of Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, who entered the semi-finals in the two previous editions, failed to do so in 2009: the former were defeated by quarter-finals Kenya and Wales respectively, whereas Australia lost two of the three matches in the pool stage and did not advance to quarter-finals.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens
Wales, which had never reached quarter-finals in the previous editions of the World Cup, beat Samoa in semi-finals and Argentina in the final to win the tournament. Kenya had never reached the Cup or Plate stages before, but shared 3rd place in 2009.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Bids
A record seven countries originally expressed interest in hosting the tournament however, only five officially submitted bids for hosting rights after Kenya and South Africa withdrew from the bidding process. The United Arab Emirates, Australia, the Netherlands, Russia and the United States were the five candidates. The voting process consisted of two rounds. No clear majority was reached in the first round and therefore the top two, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia, progressed to a second round, with the IRB subsequently selecting the UAE as the host union.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Bids
The IRB cited the provision of a new purpose built stadium, the recent success of the Dubai Sevens tournament and the Under 19 Rugby World Championship as strong factors in their decision to select the Arabian Gulf RFU as the host union. The event was the first major rugby tournament to be held in the Middle East.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Men
The qualification process of men's teams for the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Automatic qualification was extended to the host and the eight quarterfinalists of the previous World Cup. The remaining spots were contested in each of the six regions' respective tournaments.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Men, Qualifying, Europe
The tournament held in Hannover, Germany on 12 and 13 July 2008, as well as being the European Sevens championship, functioned as a qualifying tournament for the world cup. The five best nations out of the twelve participating ones qualified for the Dubai tournament. Teams finished in the following order:


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Women
The qualification process for the inaugural women's tournament of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. There are no automatic qualifiers, so all national teams qualified by way of regional tournaments. Unlike the men's tournament, the Arabian Gulf did not prequalify as hosts. The qualification process allocated two slots for Africa, two for North America/West Indies, one for South America, three for Asia, six for Europe and two for Oceania.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Women, Africa
On 20−21 September, seven national teams plus an invitational team met in Kampala for two world cup slots, which has been won by finalists South Africa and Uganda, the former of which winning the tournament.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Women, North America/West Indies
From 24–26 October, eight women's teams met in Nassau, Bahamas for the NAWIRA Sevens. Champion Canada and runner-up United States ended up qualifying based on the allotted slots.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Women, South America
The South American qualifier was held in Punta del Este on 18−19 January, with Brazil claiming the continent's sole women's World Cup spot.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Women, Asia
Nine women's national teams competed alongside the men's teams in Hong Kong on 4−5 October, contesting the three allotted World Cup slots. Finalists Japan and Thailand were joined by third-place China.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Women, Europe
Europe had a sixteen-team tournament in Limoges, France on 14–15 June to determine the six teams eligible for the World Cup. The six top placing teams were England, France, Italy, Netherlands, Russia and Spain.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Women, Oceania
Apia, Samoa played host to the qualifying tournament played concurrently with the men's tournament. The women's tournament started with a five-team round robin before the top four teams advance to the playoff, from which finalists Australia and New Zealand qualified for the World Cup.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens squads – Men
The rosters of all participating teams at the men's tournament of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens squads – Women
The rosters of all participating teams at the women's tournament of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens – Men's tournament
The men's tournament in the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at The Sevens in Dubai alongside the inaugural women's tournament. The tournament was held from 5 March to 7 March, with Wales beating Argentina 19−12 at the final.


2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens – Women's tournament
The inaugural women's tournament in the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at The Sevens in Dubai alongside the men's tournament. The tournament was held from 6 March to 7 March, with Australia beating New Zealand 15−10 at the final.


2009 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 2009 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Bryansk, Bryansk Oblast, Russia between 6–14 March 2009.


2009 Russian Championship (women's football)
The 2009 Russian Women's Football Championship was the 18th edition of the top category in Russian women's football. Like the previous year the competition was contested by seven teams, with Lada Togliatti and Zvezda Zvenigorod replacing disbanded teams Nadezhda Noginsk and SKA Rostov to join Energiya Voronezh, ShVSM Izmailovo, WFC Rossiyanka, Ryazan VDV and Zvezda Perm. Twelve game weeks were played from May 7 to October 29, 2009.


2009 Russian Championship (women's football)
The championship was won for the third year in a row by European Cup runner-up Zvezda Perm, which became the first team to achieve this since the competition's foundation in 1992. Rossiyanka was the championship's runner-up, also qualifying for the Champions League. 2004 champion Lada Togliatti was disbanded after Week 9.


2009 Russian Figure Skating Championships
The 2009 Russian Figure Skating Championships (Russian: Чемпионат России по фигурному катанию на коньках 2009) was held from December 24 to 28, 2008 in Kazan. Skaters competed at the senior level in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The juniors event was held separately.


2009 Russian Figure Skating Championships, Junior results
The 2009 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships were held between January 28 and 31, 2009 in Saransk. They were the qualifying competition for the 2009 World Junior Championships.


2009 Russian Figure Skating Championships, International team selections, Europeans Championships
The team to the 2009 European Figure Skating Championships was announced as follows:


2009 Russian Figure Skating Championships, International team selections, Winter Universiade
The team to the 2009 Winter Universiade was announced as follows:


2009 Russian First Division
The Russian First Division 2009 was the 18th season of Russia's second-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 28 March 2009 and ended on 4 November 2009.


2009 Russian First Division, Teams
The league has been reduced from 22 to 20 teams. It features eleven clubs from Russian First Division 2008, two clubs relegated from Russian Premier League 2008, five zone winners from Russian Second Division 2008 and two of the third-placed clubs from Russian Second Division 2008.


2009 Russian First Division, Teams, Movement between Premier League and First Division
FC Rostov as 2008 champions and Kuban Krasnodar as runners-up have been promoted to the Premier League. They will be replaced by relegated teams Shinnik Yaroslavl and Luch-Energia Vladivostok.


2009 Russian First Division, Teams, Movement between First Division and Second Division
Due to the league contraction, seven instead of the regular five teams were relegated to their respective Second Division group. These teams, ranked 16th through 22nd in 2008, were Metallurg-Kuzbass Novokuznetsk, Volga Ulyanovsk, Torpedo Moscow, Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk, Dinamo Barnaul, Dinamo Bryansk and Zvezda Irkutsk.


2009 Russian First Division, Teams, Movement between First Division and Second Division
The relegated teams were replaced by the five 2008 Second Division zone winners. These were MVD Rossii Moscow (West), Metallurg Lipetsk (Center), Volgar-Gazprom-2 Astrakhan (South), Volga Nizhny Novgorod (Ural-Povolzhye) and FC Chita (East).


2009 Russian First Division, Teams, Further team changes
Sportakademklub Moscow avoided relegation in 2008 by finishing 15th, but announced refusal to play in the First Division on 18 December 2008. On 15 January 2009, SKA Rostov-on-Don refused to play as well. Regulations provided that Sportakademclub and SKA should be replaced by two of the runners-up from the Second Division groups (FC Bataysk-2007, FC Torpedo Vladimir, FC Gazovik Orenburg, FC Avangard Kursk or FC Smena Komsomolsk-on-Amur). However, since all of those teams refused promotion, the places were eventually filled by third-place finishers FC Nizhny Novgorod and FC Krasnodar.


2009 Russian First Division, Teams, Overview
FC MVD Rossii resigned from the league on 17 July after playing 19 matches. The team was in the 19th position with 17 points.


2009 Russian First Division, Awards
On 25 November 2009, Professional Football League announced the award winners for the season.


2009 Russian Premier League
The 2009 Russian Premier League was the 18th season of the Russian football championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and 8th under the current Russian Premier League name. The season started on 14 March 2009 with a goalless draw between Amkar Perm and Rostov. The last matches were played on 29 November 2009. On 21 November 2009 Rubin Kazan successfully retained their champion's title.


2009 Russian Premier League, Teams
As in the previous season, 16 teams played in the 2009 season. After the 2008 season, Shinnik Yaroslavl and Luch-Energiya Vladivostok were relegated to the 2009 Russian First Division. They were replaced by Rostov and Kuban Krasnodar, the winners and runners up of the 2008 Russian First Division.


2009 Russian Premier League, Teams, Venues
Dynamo Moscow played their home games during the 2009 season at the new Arena Khimki, due to their Dynamo Stadium undergoing renovation work.


2009 Russian Premier League, Awards
On 24 November 2009 Russian Football Union named its list of 33 top players:


2009 Russian Premier League, Medal squads
Goalkeepers: Sergei Ryzhikov (29), Nukri Revishvili  (1). Defenders: César Navas  (28), Cristian Ansaldi  (25 / 1), Roman Sharonov (25 / 2), Vitali Kaleshin (18), Lasha Salukvadze  (10 / 1), Aleksei Popov (10), Dato Kvirkvelia  (7), Aleksandr Orekhov (2), Stjepan Tomas  (1). Midfielders: Sergei Semak (26 / 6), Gökdeniz Karadeniz  (25 / 6), MacBeth Sibaya  (23 / 1), Christian Noboa  (22 / 2), Aleksandr Ryazantsev (18 / 3), Yevgeni Balyaikin (17), Andrei Gorbanets (11), Pyotr Bystrov (11), Alan Kasaev (10 / 1), Rafał Murawski  (7 / 1), Serhiy Rebrov  (7), Makhach Gadzhiyev (1), Aleksei Kotlyarov (1). Forwards: Alejandro Domínguez  (23 / 19), Aleksandr Bukharov (23 / 16), Hasan Kabze  (14 / 2), Roman Adamov (13 / 2), Igor Portnyagin (2 / 1), Davron Mirzayev  (1). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)


2009 Russian Premier League, Medal squads
Transferred out during the season: Roman Adamov (on loan to FC Krylia Sovetov Samara), Serhiy Rebrov  (retired), Makhach Gadzhiyev (end of loan from FC Saturn Moscow Oblast).


2009 Russian Premier League, Medal squads
Goalkeepers: Soslan Dzhanayev (26), Stipe Pletikosa  (4). Defenders: Martin Jiránek  (29 / 1), Sergei Parshivlyuk (21 / 1), Martin Stranzl  (19 / 1), Malik Fathi  (16 / 3), Fyodor Kudryashov (7), Clemente Rodríguez  (7), Egor Filipenko  (5 / 1), Ignas Dedura  (4). Midfielders: Alex  (29 / 12), Rafael Carioca  (23), Yevgeni Makeyev (20 / 2), Vladimir Bystrov (18 / 4), Denis Boyarintsev (18), Renat Sabitov (17), Serghei Covalciuc  (16), Ivan Saenko (13 / 1), Aleksandr Pavlenko (10), Zhano Ananidze  (8 / 2), Quincy  (8 / 2), Ibson  (6), Vladislav Ryzhkov (4), Maksim Grigoryev (3), Artur Maloyan (3), Igor Gorbatenko (2). Forwards: Welliton  (28 / 21), Nikita Bazhenov (22 / 2), Pavel Yakovlev (14 / 4), Artyom Dzyuba (8 / 2), Eldar Nizamutdinov (5 / 1).


2009 Russian Premier League, Medal squads
Transferred out during the season: Vladimir Bystrov (to FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Aleksandr Pavlenko (on loan to FC Rostov), Artyom Dzyuba (on loan to FC Tom Tomsk), Clemente Rodríguez  (to  Estudiantes de La Plata), Artur Maloyan (on loan to FC Anzhi Makhachkala).


2009 Russian Premier League, Medal squads
Goalkeepers: Vyacheslav Malafeev (28), Kamil Čontofalský  (2). Defenders: Aleksandr Anyukov (27 / 1), Fernando Meira  (22 / 1), Ivica Križanac  (18 / 2), Kim Dong-Jin  (17 / 1), Nicolas Lombaerts  (15 / 2), Tomáš Hubočan  (10).


2009 Russian Premier League, Medal squads
Midfielders: Konstantin Zyryanov (30 / 4), Igor Denisov (28 / 1), Igor Semshov (26 / 6), Roman Shirokov (21 / 1), Szabolcs Huszti  (19 / 2), Radek Šírl  (17), Viktor Fayzulin (16), Anatoliy Tymoshchuk  (11), Vladimir Bystrov (10 / 6), Aleksei Ionov (10), Alessandro Rosina  (9 / 2), Danny  (8). Forwards: Fatih Tekke  (20 / 8), Pavel Pogrebnyak (15 / 5), Sergei Kornilenko  (11 / 1), Mateja Kežman  (10 / 2), Maksim Kanunnikov (1). Manager: Dick Advocaat  (until August), Anatoli Davydov (from August).


2009 Russian Premier League, Medal squads
Transferred out during the season: Pavel Pogrebnyak (to  VfB Stuttgart), Anatoliy Tymoshchuk  (to  FC Bayern Munich).


2009 Russian Professional Rugby League season
The 2009 Russian Professional Rugby League season was the fifth season of the Russian Professional Rugby League.


2009 Russian Professional Rugby League season
This season saw yet another change in structure for the competition. The two-stage competition was retained, whereby the championship was still split into East and West. The somewhat complicated structure was as follows:


2009 Russian Professional Rugby League season, Stage Two Qualifiers
At this stage the two non-qualified West Division teams, Fili Moscow and Spartak-GM Moscow, entered a round-robin stage against teams that qualified from the Federal District Leagues, which were:


2009 Russian Professional Rugby League season, Stage Two Qualifiers
The six teams were divided into two groups of three. The top three ranked sides then entered a final stage in which they were joined by Rugby Academy Krasnoyarsk (after Kosmos Krasnoyarsk pulled out).


2009 Russian Second Division
The Russian Second Division 2009 was the third strongest division in Russian football. The Second Division is geographically divided into 5 zones. The winners of each zone are automatically promoted into the First Division. The bottom finishers of each zone lose professional status and are relegated into the Amateur Football League.


2009 Russian Second Division, South
FC Abinsk were excluded from the league for failing to fulfil two fixtures (on 28 June and 5 July). They have played 14 matches and were in the 18th position with 5 points. Results of Abinsk were discarded.


2009 Russian Second Division, South
On 31 July 2009 Oleg Mikheyev, president of FC Rotor Volgograd, announced Rotor's resignation from the league, citing problems with authorities. They have played 18 games and were in the 13th position with 21 points.


2009 Russian Second Division, Center
First games on April 22, last games on October 28.


2009 Russian Second Division, Awards
On November 25, 2009, Professional Football League announced the award winners for the season.


2009 Russian Super Cup
The 2009 Russian Super Cup was the 7th Russian Super Cup match, a football match which was contested between the 2008 Russian Premier League champion, Rubin Kazan, and the winner of 2007–08 Russian Cup, CSKA Moscow. The match was held on 7 March 2009 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. CSKA Moscow beat Rubin Kazan 2–1 in extra time, after the normal time had finished in a 1–1 draw, to win their fourth Russian Super Cup.


2009 Russian Super Cup, Match details
Assistant referees:Nikolai Golubev (Saint Petersburg)Sergei Panteleev (Tula)Fourth official:Vladimir Pettay (Petrozavodsk)


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
The 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute was a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine that occurred when Russian natural gas company Gazprom refused to conclude a supply contract for 2009 unless Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz paid its accumulating debts for previous gas supplies. The dispute began in the closing weeks of 2008 with a series of failed negotiations, and on January 1, 2009 Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine. On January 7 the dispute turned to crisis when all Russian gas flows through Ukraine were halted for 13 days, completely cutting off supplies to Southeastern Europe, most of which depends on Russian gas, and partially to other European countries.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
Throughout the crisis the Russian and Ukrainian sides blamed each other for the cutoff. On January 11 and 12, the European Union deployed an independent monitoring mission in an attempt to solve the crisis, but the mission met with little success. On January 12, Gazprom announced that it was willing to start delivering gas through the Sudzha metering station into the pipeline that traverses Ukraine towards Southeastern Europe, but Ukraine refused the offer for technical reasons and instead suggested an alternative route through Valuyki and Pisarevka metering stations, additionally insisting that supplies be fully restored. This was refused by Gazprom.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
On January 18 the dispute was resolved when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko negotiated a new contract that covered the next ten years (on October 11, 2011, a Ukrainian court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office because she signed this deal). Gas flows to Europe restarted on the morning of January 20, and were fully restored within two days. In the aftermath, Gazprom was estimated to have lost US$1.5 billion in revenues due to lack of sales, and Ukraine was speculated to have incurred major economic losses.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
Analysts point out that the crisis had a negative and possibly irreversible impact on the reputations of both Russia as an energy supplier, and Ukraine as a transit country. There is no consensus amongst analysts on who bore the most responsibility for the crisis. Due to the absence of international monitors on both sides of the Ukrainian pipeline system, it is impossible to determine with certainty who was responsible for interrupting gas flow to Europe.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
Throughout 2008 there were numerous contract and pricing disputes between Russian and Ukrainian gas/transit companies. In October 2008, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a deal that included provisions to raise import prices and transit tariffs to "market, economically based and mutually agreed levels" within three years, and that Naftogaz would buy gas directly from Gazprom and be the sole importer to Ukraine, removing intermediaries. In November, Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term contract with similar provisions; however, this document differed in that it referred to transit fees remaining at their 2008 level and didn't specify an import price.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
In the third week of November, Gazprom CEO Miller announced that if no agreement was reached by the end of the year, prices could rise significantly higher than what was currently being proposed. A few days later Prime Minister Putin warned that if there was any interference with transit gas, supplies to Ukraine would be cut off. These warnings were repeated throughout December, with additional warnings that disruptions to European supplies could result. The European Commission did not attempt to intervene, but the Energy Charter Secretariat issued a statement on December 23 which recalled the principle of uninterrupted transit. This was seen as a reminder to Ukraine of its obligations under the Energy Charter Treaty, which it has signed and, unlike Russia, ratified.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
Large amounts of debt remained outstanding by year's end. Naftogaz CEO Vladimir Trykolych said that Naftogaz owed $1.26–1.27 billion to RosUkrEnergo in total, but claimed that Naftogaz had no debt to Gazprom. However, on December 2, Naftogaz acknowledged that it owed $1 billion to Gazprom, and said it was having trouble making payments on time due to unexpected losses in 2008. Later in mid-December, Gazprom stated that a debt of $2.195 billion had accumulated. In response, Naftogaz made a payment of $800 million, and promised to pay another $200 million soon. Gazprom proposed to make an upfront transit payment at the 2008 rate in order to provide funds for the debt to be cleared, but Naftogaz rejected the offer.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
On December 19, Gazprom released a statement saying that no supply contract could be signed for 2009 because Ukraine said it would not make any more payments in 2008. This was denied by a Naftogaz spokesman. On the same day, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's spokesman on international energy security stated that Ukraine had paid for its October and September supplies, and that although it still had to pay for November's supply before the end of 2008, no other payments would be due until the end of January.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
On December 23, President Yushchenko said that part of the debt was restructured for January – February 2009, but Gazprom denied that there was any such agreement and said that it remained committed to cut supplies to Ukraine on January 1 if Ukraine did not pay its remaining $1.67 billion debt for gas supplies and an additional $450 million in fines.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
By December 30, Naftogaz made a payment of $1.522 billion to RosUkrEnergo for outstanding gas deliveries. RosUkrEnergo confirmed receiving this payment but said that Naftogaz still owed $614 million in fines, (although later on January 2, Naftogaz insisted that no further amounts of debt were outstanding, and said it was ready to go to international arbitration to resolve the issue).


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
Along with the payment, the chief executive of Naftogaz, Oleh Dubyna, wrote a letter to Gazprom threatening that if it delivered gas for transit to Europe, Naftogaz would consider the gas to belong to an "unidentified owner" and could confiscate it under Ukrainian customs law. This was received as a threat to divert gas as Ukraine had done during the 2006 gas dispute.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Background
On December 31, after which gas supplies to Ukraine would be cut off, the two parties failed to come to an agreement on import and transit prices, and obstacles remained. Naftogaz promised to transit gas to Europe even if supplies to Ukraine were cut, however, it added that without a contract in place it would not supply technical gas and would instead take gas from Russia's volumes to keep the system functioning. Gazprom refused, arguing that this would be theft.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Ukraine cut off.
Deliveries of 90 mmcm (million cubic meters) of natural gas per day designated to Ukraine were fully cut on January 1, 2009 at 10:00 MSK. Transit deliveries to the EU continued at a volume of 300 mmcm per day. President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Tymoshenko, in a joint statement, confirmed that Ukraine guaranteed the uninterrupted transit of gas to Europe. They also promised that Ukrainian citizens would be provided with gas in full volume from Ukraine's gas storage facilities.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Ukraine cut off.
According to Viachaslau Herasimovich, energy analyst at independent think-tank CASE Ukraine, Ukraine had enough natural gas to last between 100 and 110 days without Russian gas (reserves in underground storage were enough to last about 80 days, plus extra days from the amount of gas Ukraine itself could produce before the exhaustion of existing reserves).


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Ukraine cut off.
President Yushchenko sent a letter to President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on January 1, proposing the European Union's involvement in settling the dispute. According to Interfax-Ukraine, this proposal was first initiated by the EU. A Ukrainian delegation of representatives was then sent to the Czech Republic (holding the current EU Presidency) to hold consultations with a number of EU member states.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Ukraine cut off.
On January 3, Naftogaz claimed that Gazprom had not paid the transit fees since January 1 and owed it $40 million. According to Gazprom, the transit fee was based on a long-term contract which was signed by both parties on June 21, 2002, and would expire at the end of 2013.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Ukraine cut off.
On January 4, two days after gas supplies to Europe were first reported to be falling, the Czech EU Presidency, on behalf of the EU, made a statement calling for an "urgent solution" to the dispute, and for an "immediate resumption" of full deliveries of gas to the EU member states. According to the statement, "energy relations between the EU and its neighbours should be based on reliability and predictability." On the same day both RosUkrEnergo and Gazprom filed lawsuits against Ukraine and Naftogaz respectively with the Stockholm Tribunal of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. Russia and Ukraine also said they would file lawsuits at the arbitration court.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Ukraine cut off.
On January 5, Kyiv's economic court ruled to ban Naftogaz from transiting Russian gas in 2009 at a price of $1.60 per 1,600 cubic meters per 100 kilometers. The court decided to satisfy a ministry appeal that declared ineffective agreements on Russian gas transit via Ukraine "because the agreements were signed by the former deputy head of the Naftogaz Ukrainy board, Ihor Voronin, who was not empowered by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to do that", according to the statement.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Europe cut off
On January 5, in a televised conversation between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, Putin agreed with a proposal by Miller to reduce gas flows to Europe via Ukraine. Putin elaborated that the gas flow should be reduced by the amount Ukraine had allegedly stolen since deliveries ended on January 1, and instructed Miller to inform Gazprom's European partners.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Europe cut off
On January 6, Gazprom deputy CEO Aleksandr Medvedev stated at press conferences in both London and Berlin that Ukraine had blocked three of the four transit lines "in an unprecedented and unilateral move". Naftogaz denied the accusation and said it had used its own gas for technical purposes. President Yushchenko stated that during the course of the day Gazprom had sharply cut supplies to Europe via Ukraine from 262 mmcm to 73.6 mmcm.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Europe cut off
Later a Gazprom spokesman stated that Gazprom had only put 64.7 mmcm into the system, and that it was expecting Ukraine to make up the remaining 65.3 mmcm needed to make the total order of 130 mmcm. In a telegram sent to the leadership of the European Union and heads of European states that consume Russian natural gas, President Yushchenko said "Ukraine consumes only the gas it produces itself and gas pumped into Ukrainian storage facilities, which has been paid for in full". The president also claimed that Russia planned to stop or significantly reduce Russian gas transit through Ukraine.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Europe cut off
On January 7, all Russian gas flow through Ukraine was halted, completely cutting off supplies to Southeastern Europe, much of which is completely reliant on Russian gas, and partially to other parts of Europe. Miller stated that Gazprom had stopped all gas deliveries to Ukraine because Ukraine had closed the system down, but Naftogaz said it closed down the system because Gazprom had stopped delivering gas. Prime Minister Putin accused Ukraine of blackmail; Ukraine denied the charges and blamed Russia for stopping gas deliveries to Europe. According to the Ukrainian presidential envoy for international energy security, Bohdan Sokolovsky, Ukraine had no technical capability to stop the pumping of Russian gas into its territory. He claimed that all pumping stations through which gas is supplied to Ukraine are located in Russia.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Europe cut off
On January 8, the European Union released a 6-point declaration. The declaration stated that Russia and Ukraine had failed to show sufficient determination in solving the problem which was damaging to both their reputations. It urged both Russia and Ukraine to fulfil their respective obligations as supplier and transit country and to immediately restore gas supplies to Europe. It also requested that both parties accept independent monitoring of the flow of gas in the pipelines. Later in the day officials from Gazprom and Naftogaz met with EU officials in Brussels to look for an end to the crisis. Ukraine agreed to guarantee the unimpeded transit of natural gas on the condition that Gazprom would guarantee and supply the technical gas that was required for the system to function, but this was rejected by Russia, as it considered this the responsibility of Ukraine.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Gas supplies to Europe cut off
On January 11, Putin stated that Russia was willing to take part in the privatization of Ukraine's gas transport system if Ukraine agreed. He also suggested that the EU should lend Ukraine the cash to pay off its debts.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, EU Monitoring agreement
On January 7, after Russian gas deliveries to Europe through Ukraine were completely halted, German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned both the Russian and Ukrainian Prime Ministers and reached an agreement with them that "experts from the European gas industry and the EU be sent quickly to determine on both sides of the Russia–Ukraine border..the cause of the transmission problems". For the next 4–5 days the commission focused on coming up with terms of reference for an agreement to be signed by all parties.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, EU Monitoring agreement
On January 9, the Gas Coordination Group met and discussed different measures to help the situation, including temporary increases in production, increasing storage withdrawal, fuel switching, and increasing LNG imports.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, EU Monitoring agreement
On January 10, the EU continued talks with Russia to finalize details of the written protocol. After several hours of negotiations, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and Prime Minister Putin reached an agreement on conditions for the monitoring arrangement. European Commissioner Andris Piebalgs confirmed that he was also ready to sign the agreement, which left only Ukraine's signature needed in order to start the monitoring operation.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, EU Monitoring agreement
On January 11, Topolánek flew to Kyiv where he presented the agreement to Ukrainian representatives, and Ukraine signed the protocol. However, Prime Minister Tymoshenko added the handwritten words "with declaration attached" next to her signature. The added declaration included, among other things, a clause asserting that Ukraine did not steal gas earmarked for Europe, a demand that Russia must provide Ukraine with 21 mmcm of technical gas daily, free of charge, and that Ukraine had no outstanding debts to Gazprom,  effectively blaming the Russian side for the crisis. Russia was not willing to accept this, and another day was lost.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, EU Monitoring agreement
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev called the attached note a "mockery of common sense", and said it was "blatantly provocative and destructive [...] meant to thwart the agreement." Topolánek later told Putin during a telephone conversation that Ukraine's declarations were non-binding and only represented the opinion of Ukraine, but Putin asked Topolánek to send Russia a protocol without any additions and declarations. After a phone call by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that same day, Tymoshenko agreed to separate the two documents.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, EU Monitoring agreement
On January 12, all three parties re-signed the protocol without any amendments and monitors were deployed. The monitoring mission included the EU Commission's officials, experts from the European gas companies, such as E.ON Ruhrgas, Eni and GDF Suez, as well as representatives of Gazprom, Naftogaz, and the Ukrainian and Russian energy ministries. Originally Ukraine did not accepted Gazprom's demand to include Gazprom's experts in the mission, but the objection was later withdrawn.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, EU Monitoring agreement
This arrangement was criticized by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, who said that Ukraine risked losing control over its gas transit system with the inclusion of monitors from European companies in which Gazprom is a shareholder. He claimed it was "another attempt by the Russians to deprive Ukraine of its entire gas transit system."


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Attempts to restore gas supplies
Although international monitors had been deployed, it became clear by the next day that they would have nothing to monitor, as mutual accusations between Russia and Ukraine over who was responsible for blocking gas flow continued. The Russian side claimed that its attempts to restore gas flow were still being blocked, while the Ukrainian side argued that no supplies could be received because no technical agreement had been reached between the parties. Naftogaz sent a letter to Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller arguing that Gazprom was not only responsible for supplying technical gas, but also additional linepack gas of 140 million cubic metres (4.9 billion cubic feet) in order to restart the system.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Attempts to restore gas supplies
On January 12, Gazprom announced that it was ready to start delivering gas through the Sudzha metering station that traverses Ukraine towards Southeastern Europe, but Ukraine refused the offer, claiming this would have left its eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and portions of Dnipropetrovsk starved of gas. Naftogaz suggested an alternative route through the Valuyki and Pisarevka metering stations, but later added that it was unprepared to partially accept gas for transfer to Europe.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Attempts to restore gas supplies
It insisted that deliveries be fully restored because the system had been partially reconfigured to work in reverse in order to supply consumers in eastern Ukraine with backup supplies, and European transit pipelines were working in such a way that they were unable to accept Russian gas for transit to Europe without cutting off those eastern regions. Naftogaz added that a resumption of transit would require conclusion of a technical agreement. According to a report by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies: "This reversal of one of the world’s largest gas transit systems was unprecedented. It seems hard to believe that it could have been undertaken spontaneously, which suggests that, whichever side precipitated the shutdown, Naftogaz's engineers had prepared for it." Gazprom rejected this counterproposal, saying that the Valuyki and Pisarevka routes were unsuitable for deliveries to Europe.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Attempts to restore gas supplies
On January 17, Russia held an international gas conference in Moscow, inviting the heads of states and governments of all countries buying or transporting Russian gas. The proposal was met with little enthusiasm, but the EU stated that it would attend under the precondition that Ukraine's participation was ensured. Ukraine agreed and was represented by Prime Minister Tymoshenko, who was given full mandate at the talks. The EU was represented by the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Říman and the EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Attempts to restore gas supplies
The summit did not achieve a solution to the crisis, but negotiations continued bilaterally between prime ministers Putin and Tymoshenko afterwards.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Crisis resolved
On January 18, after a day of talks, Putin and Tymoshenko reached a deal on restoring gas supplies to both Europe and Ukraine. The parties agreed, among other things, that Ukraine would get a 20% discount for 2009 gas supplies on condition that the tariff for transporting Russian gas to European consumers through Ukraine remained at 2008 prices for the duration of the year, and that starting on January 1, 2010, all prices and tariffs would move to European standards, without any exemptions or discounts.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Crisis resolved
The two sides also agreed to stop using intermediaries, referring to RosUkrEnergo, a company joint owned by Gazprom and two Ukrainian businessmen. The next day, the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, along with the head of Naftogaz, Oleh Dubyna, signed the agreement, and Putin announced that he had ordered Gazprom to start deliveries in full volume and through all necessary routes. Additionally, the claim of a $600 million debt owed to RosUkrEnergo by Naftogaz was dropped. The deal is to remain in force until the end of 2019.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Crisis resolved
On January 20, gas deliveries to both Ukraine and Europe resumed, and within two days volumes were fully restored.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Crisis resolved
According to the agreement, Ukraine would pay $360/mcm (thousand cubic meter) for the first quarter of 2009, and each following quarter will be stipulated depending on the price formula. Additionally, Ukraine must pay for supplies for any given month by the seventh day of the following month. If payment is late, Ukraine has to pay in advance, which could be grounds to nullify the agreement.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Crisis, Crisis resolved
The agreement was altered on November 20, 2009 after a meeting between Tymoshenko and Putin in Yalta; Ukraine would not be fined for buying less gas than what the original agreement stipulated, this was done in view of the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Impact on Europe
On January 2, a day after Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, Hungary, Romania and Poland were the first countries to report that pressure in their pipelines had fallen. Bulgaria reported that their supply was also falling and that transit to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia was affected. Two days later the Czech Republic and Turkey reported drops in pipeline pressure. Starting on January 7, several countries began to report a significant drop in gas supplies from Russia.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Impact on Europe
Throughout the crisis many countries were unprepared and had been left without supplies for days, leading to significant economic and humanitarian consequences; Bulgaria was forced to stop production in some of its important industrial plants, while one country, Slovakia, declared a state of emergency. The most severely affected countries were in Southeastern Europe, most of which rely completely on Russia for gas and at the time didn't have sufficient alternative energy sources. However North-West Europe wasn't much effected by the cutoff and none of Europe's major markets came close to cutting off customers. Many European countries had made investments since the 2006 crisis which put them in a better position.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Impact on Europe
The following table displays the gas situation in each of the affected countries at the time of the crisis:


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Impact on Europe
None of Gazprom's European clients have sued Gazprom for irregularities in gas shipments in January 2009, hence Gazprom suspended its litigation with Naftogaz Ukraine at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce over alleged violation of contractual terms on transiting natural gas to Europe by Naftogaz late December 2009.


2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute, Impact on Russia and Ukraine
Both Russia and Ukraine claimed to have emerged triumphant from the dispute, but both countries sustained major blows to their economies in the middle of an already serious economic crisis. Gazprom was estimated to have lost about $1.5 billion in revenues due to lack of sales, while Ukraine lost an estimated $100 million in transit fees and was speculated to have incurred major economic losses due to much of its industry, the backbone of its economy, being temporarily shut down.