"The time when something could be stolen from Gazprom or its affiliates has past," Medvedev said, adding that the problem would be solved in Gazprom's favor.
Naftogaz's $1.2 billion debt has already been redeemed. Ukrainian commercial ventures' unpaid debts, which exceed $200 million, are being worked on.
A source in Gazprom said Thursday that the gas giant's CEO Alexei Miller would hold a meeting with Alexei Ivchenko, Ukraine's first deputy minister of fuel and energy and chairman of Naftogaz's board of directors, in Moscow next week.
Ukraine was reportedly storing 7.8 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas that Gazprom failed to export last winter.
Gazprom wants Ukraine to buy the gas at a price that would suit both parties or to consider it payment for the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine in 2005.
