Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov says he is sure the Ukrainian hryvnia will not collapse and Ukraine will not need a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the near-term outlook.
The Ukrainian top-ranking official made this statement in an interview with the Tkachenko.ua TV program, which will be broadcasted by the 1+1 TV Channel on Monday, June 27, 2011, the channel’s press service reported.
He said that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would meet to discuss natural gas prices that could be more acceptable to Ukraine (Yanukovych and Putin met in Crimea on Saturday, June 25, 2011 – Interfax-Ukraine’s note).
"[Gazprom CEO Alexei] Miller has named the price. This is, so to speak, Mr. Miller’s opinion, and we have our own opinions and approaches," the Ukrainian premier said.
Azarov also shared his vision of the advantages of the Kharkiv accords. He said that the signing of those documents was a least-evil solution after the conclusion of the Moscow natural gas agreements in 2009, signed by the then premier Yulia Tymoshenko.
"What interests except personal ones could she be pushing? To get a price much higher than for European countries!" he said.
