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Russia, Ukraine to hold new round of gas talks

26 September 2011 17:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian gas giant Gazprom will hold new talks with Ukraine on gas purchase and transit, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to Miller, the talks could take place as early as this week.

He said there was progress but it was still too early to talk about any concrete figures and parameters.

The Russia-Ukraine inter-governmental commission in charge of gas business will be convened in October on the upcoming price hike of Russian gas, RBC news agency reported.

On Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to discuss the ongoing gas dispute. Miller also met with Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Boyko.

Ukraine has long urged Russia to review the existing gas pricing formula, but the two sides have not reached consensus on the issue.

In early September, Ukraine disbanded its national gas company Naftogas and said all the contracts it has signed with Gazprom in 2009-2010 should be reconsidered. In response, Moscow threatened to bring Kiev to a court and demanded a merge of Naftogas with Gazprom, which implies Russia’s acquisition of the Ukraine’s gas pipelines.

According to Moscow’s Kommersant business daily, Kiev could offer to create a three-party gas consortium with Russian and the European Union.