BRUSSELS -- The European Commission hopes to start early talks with Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan to negotiate bilateral agreements on steel imports from the three countries, European Union sources said.The agreements will replace an arrangement under which the EU imposed unilateral ceilings on steel imports from countries of the former Soviet Union as a whole. The present arrangement had been due to expire at the end of this month, but will now run until the end of the year if the new accords are not in place before then. EU sources said Thursday that two or three rounds of negotiations would be needed for each of the three countries, and that the aim was to carry out all of the work in the July-September period. They said Russia wanted to have the mandate approved in time for conclusion of its partnership and cooperation agreement with the EU.