NARO-FOMINSK (Moscow Region), December 27 (RIA Novosti) - The leasing price of radars in the Ukrainian cities of Sevastopol in the autonomy of the Crimea in the south of the country and Mukacheve in southwestern Ukraine could be fixed at bilateral negotiations, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday.

"I cannot say how much the leasing of radars costs now. The prices were fixed in the past," Ivanov said. "Anyway, the price question can be settled at bilateral negotiations," he said.

In mid-December, Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko said he thought Russia was underpaying for the use of radars in Mukacheve and Sevastopol and that "the issue is being negotiated by [the two countries'] defense ministries and governments."

In an interview with the Ukrainian newspaper 2000 on December 23, the Ukrainian defense minister called the problem unsolvable.

Dnepr radars in Sevastopol and Mukacheve are owned by Ukraine. Under a Russian-Ukrainian agreement, the data from the radars go to the central control station of the Russian Space Force's missile warning system. Russia pays $1.2 million for the data.

Early this year the Ukrainian Defense Ministry demanded an increase in payment. Russia refused to pay more, saying that the agreement signed in 1992 was valid for 15 years.