Ukraine is willing to buy Russian gas at market prices, Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said during interview with the RIA Novosti news agency on Friday.
"If Gazprom offers us the market price [for gas], we do not have any political reason to refuse," the minister was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti, adding that Ukraine assumes that the market price of Russian gas is "significantly lower than $180 per 1,000 cubic meters."
Demchyshyn also said that it is necessary for the two countries to hold gas supply talks with the participation of the European Commission. The minister said this format would make the talks “very comfortable.”
Ukraine does not exclude the possibility of buying gas supplies from the United States, provided that Europe gives permission to use terminals required to receive the fuel, the minister added.
On Friday, Ukraine was deprived of the $17,77 per thousand cubic meters discount that had been previously granted by the Russian government. Without the discount, the price of 1,000 cubic meters of gas equals almost $230, according to the current contract between Russia's Gazprom and Ukrainian state-run energy firm Naftogaz.
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