Azarov: Gas dispute with Russia could be resolved only through talks

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has denied allegations that the government was not holding talks with Russia to amend the gas contract signed in 2009 and says that this question could be resolved only through talks.

While opening a government meeting on Wednesday, he said that Ukraine, represented by the president, the prime minister and the energy minister, had over the last three years raised the question of changing the terms of the gas contract at all meetings with Russian colleagues.

"According to experts and lawyers, as a result of the betrayal of national interests by the previous government, the contract was made advantageous to Russia and disadvantageous to Ukraine so that it can be terminated only through talks. And paying the legal costs for trying to cancel the contract would mean delivering another blow on Ukrainian citizens," Azarov said.

In this regard, he described as misleading the statements made in the media by opposition representatives that the current authorities have never attempted to terminate the contract.

"Opposition politicians, who are directly responsible for the signing with Russia of an extremely disadvantageous gas contract to Ukraine, are spreading misleading information that the authorities allegedly made no attempts to cancel these one-sided agreements. Moreover, these political parties are initiating a lawsuit against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regarding the government's inactivity in this issue," he said.

Azarov called on citizens to trust only official reports from official sources.

As reported, the government led by Prime Minister Azarov, which replaced the government of Yulia Tymoshenko after the presidential election in 2010, on the same year started attempting to revise the gas contract of 2009, insisting on the need to reduce the price of imported Russian gas and provide guarantees of transit volumes. However, Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz agreed only on a 30% gas price discount for Ukraine in exchange for extending the lease for the Russian Black Sea Fleet's presence in Crimea for 25 years starting from 2017.