Ukraine's new leader Viktor Yanukovych will have to work hard to sell the idea of a gas consortium with Russia according to a poll published on the Ukrainian government's website on Tuesday.
Yanukovych is seeking to revise a long-term gas deal signed by ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in early 2009, which made Russian gas expensive for Ukraine, further straining the country's meager finances.
In return for cheaper gas, Ukraine wants to offer Russia a stake in its gas transportation system, which currently accounts for about 80% of Russian natural gas exports to Europe.
Ukraine's Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko flew to Moscow on Tuesday to discuss gas issues with Russian officials.
According to the poll conducted in Ukraine in March, only 40.5% of respondents welcomed the idea of a gas consortium with Russia. 23.3% opposed the move.
Tymoshenko, who currently leads the Ukrainian opposition, has criticized the idea, saying the transfer of the national gas transportation network would betray national interests.
As many as 70.6% of Ukrainians fully support the need to review the gas deal with Russia, with only 13.4% speaking against this option, the poll showed.
The poll was conducted by the Ukrainian social survey company, Research & Branding Group, on March 9 - 15 in all regions of Ukraine and covered 2,077 respondents with a statistical error of 2.2%.
The Russian business daily Vedomosti said on Monday that it was high time for Ukraine to sort out its gas transportation network as the construction of the Kremlin-backed Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine will marginalize the ex-Soviet republic.
Ukraine's gas transportation system is Europe's second largest gas pipeline network and the main route for Russian natural gas supplies to European consumers. In early 2000, Kiev and Moscow discussed the possibility of creating a gas transport consortium with the involvement of EU partners to manage and modernize Ukraine's Soviet-era gas pipeline network.
The project was put on hold when west-leaning president Viktor Yushchenko came to power in Ukraine in 2004.
Russia has made repeated attempts to obtain a stake in the Ukrainian gas pipeline network to modernize the system and ensure uninterrupted gas supplies to Europe. Ukraine has so far resisted, saying a consortium with Russia would jeopardize its sovereignty.
KIEV, March 23 (RIA Novosti)
