KIEV, Ukraine, June 28 (UPI) -- Kiev wants a better deal from Moscow for hosting the natural gas that crosses its territory for European consumers, the Ukrainian prime minister said.
Moscow pays $2.84 for every 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas per 100 kilometers piped through Ukraine. That's an increase from the $2.70 paid last year.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said he wants to revise a gas transit deal brokered in 2009 by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Azarov complains that energy prices have increased since then, and the price should be adjusted accordingly.
"Tymoshenko has signed this enslaving formula which provides for the gas price growth but maintains transit fees which were in force then," he told the National News Agency of Ukraine. "Thus, Ukraine essentially is making losses without getting compensation linked to a rising price for gas. This is not normal at all."
Tymoshenko is under investigation for the 2009 natural gas deal. Now an opposition leader, she claims her rivals are using the gas deal as a political tool.
The administration of President Viktor Yanukovych argues the government is losing money on the deal.
Russian energy company Gazprom uses Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine to host 80 percent of the gas bound for European customers.
