Russians wish to acquire 50 percent of Ukrainian gas transportation system

As Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said during his trip to Zhytomyr,the topic of exploitation of the Ukrainian gas transportation system was not touched on during the official negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
But behind the scenes Russians aired their desire to acquire 50 percent of the system, Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said. As he noted, Ukraine is supporting the idea of establishment of a Ukrainian - Russian international gas transportation consortium, but with new capacity. The Ukrainian Premier cited the example of construction of a 1,500 km-long gas pipeline Novopskovsk (Eastern Ukraine) - Uzhgorod. Presently, the first section of this is being constructed, Bohorodchany - Uzhgorod, of 264 km length, which will increase the capacity of the Ukrainian gas transportation system by 1.4 times. As the Prime Minister noted, Ukraine will get 17 bn. cu. m. of gas from Russia as payment for the transit of gas to Europe. Another 6 to 8 bn. cu. m. of gas Ukraine will buy.