Ukraine will not buy the amount of gas from Russia set out in a 2009 bilateral agreement which has been denounced as unfair by Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Tuesday, setting the tone for a new round of gas price talks. "We have clearly told them (Russia) that we are not going to buy the huge volume of gas that is set out in these enslaving contracts," Azarov's office quoted him as saying on a visit to the Ukrainian city of Khmelnitsky.
Azarov spoke as a fresh round of talks were set to begin in Moscow which the government hopes will lead to Moscow agreeing to cut the price of its gas supplies to Ukraine as set in the 10-year agreement. "It is about time we completed these talks. How much time can we spend talking? It is time to find a solution," he said. The Kiev government earlier said it wanted to reduce Russian gas purchases to 27 billion cubic metres (bcm) this year from 40 bcm in 2011.