Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said here Monday that his country hoped the price agreed upon at the beginning of this year for gas imported from Russia would keep unchanged till the end of this year.

Ukraine and Russia were seeking a negotiation mechanism to realize the goal, Yanukovych told a news conference.

Ukraine pays 95 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, a nearly twofold price that Ukraine agreed to pay earlier this year following a bitter dispute with Russia's Gazprom state-controlled natural gas giant.

Yanukovych visited Moscow last Friday to settle the issue of gas imports.

During the visit, representatives from both sides failed to reach an agreement on the gas price for the next three years.

Russia, however, agreed to provide Ukraine 62 billion cubic meters of gas annually in 2007 through 2009.

Ukraine, a country consuming 80 billion cubic meters of gas a year, relies heavily on gas imports from Russia.

Gazprom briefly turned off the taps to Ukraine at the height of last winter after Ukraine began siphoning gas passing westward through its pipelines.

As part of the deal that resolved the dispute, Ukraine agreed earlier this year to receive its imported natural gas at a price of 95 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, significantly higher than the old price of 50 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

Source: Xinhua