Russian Prime Minister on April 30 proposed merging state oil and gas monopolies Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy on a parity basis during a press conference in Moscow. premier.gov.ru Ukraine and Russia have discussed which companies could evaluate the gas transport system of Ukraine and which Russian gas fields could be included in a future joint enterprise, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told Ukrainian journalists in Moscow on Tuesday.

"We have already discussed, considered which companies could make an assessment of the Ukrainian gas transport system and our extraction fields," he said.

According to Miller, the Ukrainian side has already named a range of companies that could be involved in this work.

This spring, the Russian leadership proposed the unification of Gazprom and Naftogaz into a joint venture on a parity basis, which could include extraction and gas transporting assets from the Ukrainian side, and gas fields of the same value from the side of Gazprom.

Gazprom has already submitted a list of gas fields that could be included in the joint venture.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarovm, meanwhile, has already ruled out any merger.

"The prime minister's position remains unchanged: absorption or a merger [between Gazprom and Naftogaz] is out of the question. What is in question is a discussion of market mechanisms for setting up an efficient joint venture, in which the parties would have equal rights and whose interests would be equally protected," Azarov's spokesman Vitaliy Lukyanenko said Sept. 8.