MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - Kiev will stop being dependent on Russian gas in five years, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in an interview to Ukraine’s 1+1 television channel.
The "victory" is achieved when Ukraine will not buy Russian gas at all, which could be accomplished in a five-year period, Yatsenyuk said in an interview released on Sunday.
Yatsenyuk also stated that Kiev currently holds some 16 billion cubic meters of gas, adding that the country still lacks about five billion cubic meters for the fall-winter period.
The purchase of gas from the European Union through Poland, Hungary and Slovakia has increased, the prime minister also noted.
In mid-June, Russia’s Gazprom introduced a prepayment system for gas deliveries to Ukraine due to Kiev’s massive gas debt of around $5.3 billion. On September 3, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said Kiev offered Russia two options on gas price: $300 per 1,000 cubic meters during the summer and $380 during the winter. In response to Yatsenyuk’s statement, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would only agree on a price of $385 per 1,000 cubic meters, and would resume cooperation on the issue no sooner than the debt is repaid.
