Europeans needn’t worry about gas supplies - Ukrainian PM
“My position remains unchanged. There should be no intermediaries on the gas market. We have Naftogaz Ukraine, which we will put back on a normal financial footing. On the other side, there is Gazprom and there are our two governments, Russian and Ukrainian. No one needs any intermediaries in this matter. I think it's regarding this specific context that we'll hold talks with the Russian side,” said Yulia Timoshenko.
Europe gets a quarter of its gas from Russia, 80 per cent of which travels through Ukraine.
Russia has set gas prices for Ukraine for the next year at $US 179.5 per thousand cubic metres, which represents a 38 per cent increase.
Ukraine buys Russian gas via intermediary RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss company, half owned by Gazprom.
Timoshenko has long criticised RosUkrEnergo as an opaque company that increases the cost of gas transit.