MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) -- Ukraine must pay cash for Russian natural gas, a Russian minister said Tuesday during a meeting on energy cooperation with a Ukrainian delegation.
"We want to abandon barter practices and transition to monetary payments for the supply and transportation of Russian gas [for Ukraine]," Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said. "We would like to ensure the transparency of the supply and transportation of gas and establish relations that resemble those we have had with Europe for decades."
The Ukrainian delegation, headed by Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov, proposed keeping the existing transportation payment methods.
At present, Ukraine buys Russian gas for $50 per thousand cubic meters, whereas European countries pay more than $100 for the same volume.
Responding to a Ukrainian proposal to sign a protocol on gas transit through Ukraine for 2006 under the current payment methods, Khristenko said, "We will not sign the 2006 protocol if we do not first work out payment methods for 2007, 2008, and the following years...and our position is irreversible."
At the end of the talks, both sides agreed to form a working group comprising representatives of Gazprom, a Russian gas monopoly, and NaftoGaz Ukrainy, a Ukrainian joint-stock energy company. The group must present several models for transition to transparent bilateral relations in the natural gas industry by September 10.
