KIEV, December 9 (RIA Novosti) - An increase in the natural gas price would hurt the Ukrainian economy, but would not affect ordinary Ukrainians in any way, the speaker of Ukraine's parliament said Friday.
"I would like to reassure [Ukrainian] citizens that an increase in the gas price would not affect the population, because our own gas industry produces about 18 billion cu m for use in the sphere of housing utilities," Vladimir Litvin said during his visit to the Kirovograd region.
According to the speaker, Russian-Ukrainian gas issues should be resolved systematically. "We should avoid blackmail and accusations, because neither Ukraine nor Russia would benefit from this," he said.
Moscow and Kiev have yet to reach agreement on the transition to market prices on Russian gas supplies in 2006.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the state of the Ukrainian economy allowed it to buy Russian natural gas at market prices.
Putin's comments came following Ukraine's refusal to agree to the market gas price of $160 per 1,000 cu m that Russia is set to establish for Ukraine next year instead of the $50-$60 that it has been paying over the past five years under a barter agreement.
Ukraine claims it cannot pay with cash at market prices, and has threatened to start pumping gas from a pipeline transporting Russian gas to Europe via Ukrainian territory without Russia's permission.
