VILNIUS, December 9 (RIA Novosti, Vladimir Vodo) - Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov will meet with his Russian counterpart in Moscow Monday to discuss pricing and natural gas shipments to Ukraine, the country's Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said at a news briefing in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius Friday.
Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom is demanding that the former Soviet republic pay the market price for the Russian natural gas it consumes. Ukraine is calling the decision politically charged and wants transit fees and natural gas prices to remain at the 2005 level.
The two countries had agreed earlier to switch to cash payments on European-level prices for transit and shipments.
Russia has supplied natural gas to Ukraine for $50 per 1,000 cu m during the last five years. The price for West European consumers more than doubled in that time to about $160 per 1,000 cu m of natural gas.
