Ukrainian opposition Party of Regions leader and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych said on Wednesday he intends to revise gas deals with Russia if he wins the election.
Yanukovych, who was President Viktor Yushchenko's main opponent in the 2004 race, said gas prices under the current contract with Russia were unfair for Ukraine and he intended to protect the country's national interests and remedy the situation.
Presidential elections in Ukraine are set for January 17.
Russia, which supplies around one quarter of Europe's gas, briefly shut down supplies via Ukraine's pipeline system last January amid a dispute over unpaid bills and new prices.
The conflict was resolved when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko reached a deal on gas imports and transit in mid-January 2009.
President Yushchenko has consistently called for the deal to be reviewed, something that has been ruled out by both Russia and Tymoshenko, once an ally of Yushchenko but now a bitter rival.
As the election campaign in the ex-Soviet republic is nearing the end, the main contenders for the presidential post have stepped up their election rhetoric in a bid to gain more voter support.
Ukraine's Central Election Committee has registered 18 candidates, including Yanukovych, Yushchenko, Tymoshenko, parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and former Rada speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Polls predict that no candidate will secure an outright majority in the first round, with Yanukovych expected to garner around 30% to 20% for Tymoshenko.
SIMFEROPOL, January 13 (RIA Novosti)
