Ukrainian President Still Hopes For Fair Gas Price

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said negotiations were continuing.

President Viktor Yanukovych says Ukraine hopes it will get a fair price for Russian natural-gas imports.

The pricing of Russian gas has been a major irritant in relations between the two neighbors.

The issue had been expected to be high on the agenda of talks Yanukovych held on October 22 in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian president afterward said negotiations were continuing and Ukraine expected a "justified and fair" pricing agreement.

Under a 10-year agreement signed in 2009, Ukraine pays some $420 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said earlier this month that the price for Russian gas could be significantly reduced, by around 60 percent, if Ukraine joined the Commonwealth of Independent States Custom Union with Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS