Ukrainian PM Says Ukraine Will Buy Russian Gas from Germany If Russian Gas Talks Fail

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that Ukraine will buy Russian gas supply from German supplier RWE if current talks between Ukraine and Russia fail.

The prime minister said that if Russian supplier Gazprom refused to lower prices in gas negotiations, it would paradoxically be cheaper to buy Russian gas from RWE.

Should these talks fail, Ukraine "will in fact buy Russian gas from the German company, and this will be cheaper than directly from Russia," he said yesterday.

Prime Minister Azarov pointed to the fact that RWE buys gas from Gazprom at cheaper price, despite Ukraine buying greater volumes of gas annually from Russia. Gazprom is the sole supplier of gas to Ukrainian state-run gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy.

"Ukraine is buying much more Russian gas than Germany does, and at the same time it has to pay a much higher price, although our economic indices are much lower than in Germany," he said in a statement on the Party of Regions website, the political party he belongs to.

"Can you imagine how is it going on with such an unfair price? We are trying to save energy. We withdraw funds from other spheres, for instance, from the social sector. We had to pay $1.2 billion for Russian gas over the recent month. We have paid it."

He also called for greater involvement from the EU in the renovations of the Ukrainian gas transport system (GTS) and to participate more actively in negotiations between the EU, Ukraine and Russia.