Ukraine has to reduce the volume of purchases of Russian gas due to its high cost, President Viktor Yanukovych said during a press conference in the Ukrainian House, ForUm correspondent reports.
According to the President, the gas contract with Russia is "a noose around the neck of Ukraine".
"How can we protect the country against this exorbitant price? We have only one way - to reduce gas consumption. In 2012, we reduced purchases to 34 billion. We have virtually removed gas from the energy sector, largely removed it from the metallurgy because it causes damage to our businesses," he said.
The President is also outraged by the fact that because of contracts signed in 2009, Russia can impose serious penalties for insufficient amount of bought gas on Ukraine.
In addition, the President said that if Ukraine fails to change the contract terms with the Russian Federation, Ukraine will suffer annual loss of $ 6 billion until 2019. "Three years of negotiations with Russia have not yet given results. It is very difficult to accuse Russia of something. What is its fault? They defended their national interests. Ukraine signed a contract, and Russia implements it. It is their right - to change or not to change (the conditions of the contract - Ed.). We now have to look for opportunities to solve this question. We do not want to sacrifice our sovereignty, and we will not do that. However, it is clear that we have to yield somewhere. We should find a price to change a contract," he concluded.
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