YALTA, Ukraine, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich will visit Moscow later this month for talks with Russia's Dmitry Medvedev on their gas dispute which has sparked sharp recriminations and driven ties between the former Soviet allies to a new low.
The one-day visit, set for Sept. 24, will be the first meeting between Yanukovich and the Kremlin leader since the two fell out over Ukraine’s calls for a better deal on the price of its huge Russian gas imports.
Medvedev has publicly accused Ukraine of trying to "sponge" off Russia.
Yanukovich, who adopted a more pro-Russian policy line when he came to power in February 2010, has accused the Kremlin of trying to humiliate him and belittle Ukraine as a sovereign state.
"There is a wide range of issues to be discussed that include those relating to gas and others," Iryna Akimova, Yanukovich’s economic adviser, told Reuters on the sidelines of an international conference in the Crimean resort of Yalta.
Ukraine wants Russia to agree to a review of a January 2009 gas deal which it says has saddled it with an exorbitant price for gas supplies and obliges it to import more than it requires.
It paid about $350 per 1,000 cubic metres of Russian gas for the third quarter this year and expects the price to jump to about $400 in the fourth quarter.
Russia has rejected Ukraine’s call for a revision of the agreement. It says a new deal can be worked out only if the ex-Soviet state joins a customs union linking Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, or lets Russian gas giant Gazprom buy into its gas transport system.
But Yanukovich ruled out any major political concessions specifically on joining the Russia-led customs union, telling the Yalta conference it was "not on the agenda" and was incompatible with reaching an association agreement with the European Union.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday Moscow would not force Ukraine to join the trade alliance, but he found it "hard to imagine" Kiev would ever become a member of the European Union. Putin said joining the customs union would be more economically advantageous for Kiev.
"The idea of moving in the other direction is based on politics of an emotional character. If you look at the numbers and the reality, it would be more beneficial to join the customs union," Putin said at an economic forum in Sochi, Russia.
He said Yanukovich’s Moscow visit would be an "opportunity to talk and discuss not only as neighbors but as friends."
HOPES WRECKED
The ongoing gas row has wrecked Yanukovich’s hopes of setting relations with Moscow on a firm track following years of chilliness between Kiev and Moscow under ex-President Viktor Yushchenko.
As soon as he took power in February 2010, Yanukovich set improved relations with Moscow as a policy priority and later granted Russia a lease extension for its Black sea fleet in a Crimean port until 2042.
Speaking at the Yalta European Strategy conference, Yanukovich expressed confidence problems with Moscow could be worked out. This was echoed by First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuev who said: "(We should) not drive our relations into a stalemate (over gas). Pragmatism must be flexible."
But Yanukovich made clear Ukraine intended to stick with its strategy of cutting back Russian gas imports.
"We have submitted an order to Gazprom for 27 billion cubic metres for next year," he said, adding Ukraine had a programme aimed at "cutting gas consumption by 5 billion cubic metres a year".
The volume of gas which Ukraine intends to import is an important element in the dispute with Russia.
Gazprom says the 2009 deal, which Ukraine is now challenging, provides for annual gas imports by Kiev of 33 billion cubic metres. Gazprom has said Ukraine is obliged to pay for this quantity irrespective of whether it imports it or not.
Yanukovich said talks were continuing with Russia on upgrading Ukraine’s gas pipelines. "We have been and will remain strategic partners with Russia. I am sure a solution will be found," he said.
The deal in question was signed between Ukraine’s oil and gas firm Naftogaz and Gazprom before Yanukovich came to power.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is now on trial in Kiev, charged with an abuse of office linked to the deal. She is accused of railroading Naftogaz into signing it to the detriment of the national interest. She denies this.
