KIEV, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's prime minister said on Monday she would push for amendments to the country's natural gas supply contract with Russia, to reduce the import volume, at her upcoming meeting with her Russian counterpart.
Ukraine, which has experienced a severe economic decline amid the global credit crunch, has been importing around half of the contracted gas volume from Russia since the start of the year.
Yulia Tymoshenko, who will be meeting with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, told reporters: "We will discuss the issue of reducing Ukraine's natural gas consumption. I am sure that the consumption plan will be corrected."
Ukraine's state oil and gas company Naftogaz earlier asked Russia's Gazprom for a reduction in the contract supply volume for 2007 of 17.5%, from 40 billion cubic meters to 33 billion cu m. Under the contract signed in January after a dispute that interrupted Europe-bound supplies, Naftogaz is entitled to seek a reduction of up to 20%, but must do this six months before the following contract year. The contract covers supplies from 2009 to 2019.
Ukraine's Ekonomicheskie Izvestia daily quoted officials as saying the countries were already working to draft contract amendments.
Sergei Pashinsky, a Ukrainian lawmaker from the Tymoshenko bloc, told the paper: "Bilateral working groups are currently drafting an intergovernmental agreement based on principles of equality, partnership and coordination of strategic plans."
Ihor Didenko, first deputy board chairman at Ukraine's energy company Naftogaz, earlier said: "The contract signed in January is currently being streamlined. Our goal is to sign an extra agreement within a few weeks so that politicians have no doubt about contract provisions."
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has criticized the contract as "mutually disadvantageous."
