NRCU: Ukraine purchasing 87.5% less gas from Russia in 2013 - PM Azarov
Ukraine has been steadily reducing its purchases of overpriced Russian natural gas by conserving energy, increasing domestic production, and finding cheaper alternative sources of gas in Europe, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.
"This year we purchased 87.5% less gas from Russia than we did a year earlier," Azarov said on Friday at a government confidence session in parliament called by the opposition.
In 2012, Ukraine purchased just 33 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia, 12 bcm less than in 2011, he said. Azarov pointed out that the 2009 gas agreement signed by Yulia Tymoshenko's government committed Ukraine to purchasing 52 bcm of gas a year.