Regions Party MP Vladyslav Lukyanov has said he believes that Russia's proposals on Ukraine's accession to the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan or a merger between Ukraine's Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom as the only way to get cheaper gas are pressure on Ukraine, and said that he was very dissatisfied with Russia's position in talks between the two prime ministers.
"Of course, I believe that these proposals are pressure on Ukraine, and I find such a format of talks unacceptable," he said on Ukrainian television’s Channel 5 late on Wednesday
Lukyanov said that after the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian prime ministers, he had changed his position on the Customs Union, which, in his opinion, Russia is imposing on Ukraine.
"As for the talks in such a format, I personally was a supporter of the Customs Union, because I understand that from an economic point of view, we would have received much more from the Customs Union than from any other proposal. But after I saw that tough conditions were being imposed on Ukraine in the talks on the level of gas prices, I began to doubt that this should be done," Lukyanov said.
