President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso asked Russia to set a gas price for Ukraine based on realities of the world market, as stated in Barroso’s letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, RIA Novosti reports.
Russia, Ukraine and the EU had a trilateral ministerial meeting in Warsaw on May 2. The EU held bilateral ministerial consultations with Ukraine and Russia in mid-May. The sides discussed prices for Russian gas exports to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine was ready to pay the debt to Gazprom on condition that the Russian company sets the old price of $268.5 per thousand cubic meters. Naftogaz (Ukraine) owes Gazprom about $3.5 billion for gas.
