MOSCOW, December 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russian natural gas giant Gazprom said Saturday it was fully prepared to sign a contract with Ukraine on natural gas supplies and transit during December 31.
"We are all at work, all the services are prepared for signing all the necessary agreements in the remaining eight hours before the end of the day and the year," Sergei Kupriyanov, Gazprom's official spokesman, told the NTV television channel.
He added that the agreements would regulate gas supplies to Ukraine and gas transit via its territory to Europe.
According to Kupriyanov, the Ukrainian delegation is not in Moscow now but "a plane is at the ready," if necessary.
On Saturday, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government and Gazprom to provide natural gas supplies to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2006 on the same terms and conditions as in 2005, if Ukrainian partners sign a new contract, by January 1, on transition to market gas prices in the second quarter of next year.
"I instruct the government and Gazprom to provide gas supplies to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2006 on the same conditions and in the same prices as in 2005, if Ukrainian partners sign a contract based on Gazprom's proposals to transfer to market prices in the second quarter, before January 1," Putin said Saturday at a conference with Security Council officials, attended by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
"If no clear answer follows, we will conclude that our proposal has been rejected," Putin added.
During the conference, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Miller reported to the president about the situation around gas supplies and transit to Ukraine.
"I can see that the position of the government and Gazprom is quite tough," the head of state said.
However, Putin said Ukraine "is not some abstract boss or oil and gas barons who will see to their interests anyway."
"They are our fraternal nation, and we should think about our relations in a complex," Putin said.
