KIEV -Russia has introduced new demands in sensitive negotiations over the gas price it charges neighbouring Ukraine, a key transit route to Europe, Ukraine's Energy Minister Yuri Boiko said Wednesday.
The demands come after the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan, from which Russia gets a significant portion of its gas, said it was raising the price it charges Moscow.
"Our negotiations are under way. Our Russian partners have put forward new conditions on the price of gas," Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Boiko told reporters, without elaborating further.
Ukraine is the transit route for most of Russia's gas exports to European Union countries, which rely on Russia for about a quarter of their consumption.
The gas pricing issue has led to tensions between Russia and Ukraine and last year prompted a brief cut-off in supplies, with knock-on disruption for several European Union countries.
Tuesday, Russia's Gazprom said it had agreed to an increase in the price it pays Turkmenistan from $100 per 1,000 cubic meters currently to $130 from January and $150/1,000 cubic meters from the second half of next year.
"This means an automatic increase for Kiev," a source close to the negotiations in Kiev told AFP, referring to the Turkmen price rise.
Although Russia holds the world's largest gas reserves, lack of development of those reserves means it has to supplement its supplies with imports from ex-Soviet Turkmenistan and other Central Asian states.
Russian press reports have said that European customers can expect a substantial increase next year in the prices they pay for gas from Russia.
DowJones Newswires