Friday, 20 November 2009Russia is planning to supply 116 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine in 2010, the Russian government has said.
"A corresponding amendment to the [gas supply] contract has been approved and sent to the Ukrainian side," said materials published by the government on Thursday, ahead of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's current visit to Ukraine's Crimea.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Thursday that gas supplies would not be on the agenda of her meeting with Putin, to be held later in the day in Yalta.
"Gas issues will not be discussed," Tymoshenko told reporters, despite her earlier statement that gas cooperation would dominate the talks.
Tymoshenko also said Ukraine would almost double its transit fee for Russian gas next year.
"For the first time in Ukraine's history, we will considerably raise revenues from Russian gas transit via Ukraine starting on January 1," Tymoshenko said, adding that this would improve the financial standing of the national energy company Naftogaz.
The move is in line with a January deal that ended a gas crisis that caused a cutoff in Russian supplies to Ukraine and affected millions of European consumers. Russia also plans to raise gas prices for Ukraine almost to European levels from January 2010, dropping the current 20% discount.
Under the current gas agreements, Ukraine charged Russia $1.7 per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 kilometers in 2009.
President Viktor Yushchenko earlier said Naftogaz has received at least $2.5 billion a year less than it should have done.
Ukraine transits about 80% of Russia's Europe-bound gas.
Ukraine has paid for gas supplies on time this year. In October, however, a minor dispute arose on the amount of gas Ukraine is to import from Russia. Kiev has been buying a lower gas volume due to its economic slowdown, and plans to import less still in 2010.
RIA Novosti
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Friday, 20 November 2009
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