Ukraine is preparing to take Russia to court to prove it has violated accords in a worsening gas dispute, which has ended a thaw in relations, President Viktor Yanukovych said Tuesday.

Throwing diplomatic niceties aside, Yanukovych said Ukraine was not a "poor relation" of Moscow, in his strongest attack on the Kremlin since taking power in 2010 for a presidency that most believed would have a pro-Russsian tinge.

Russia spat back that Yanukovych was misleading the public with his figures, on the day Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opened a pipeline which he said meant Ukraine would lose its exclusive transit of Russian gas to Europe .

" Russia 's position is categorically unacceptable and if it does not change then we will go to international arbitration," Yanukovych told the Kommersant daily in an interview.

"We have already drawn up the materials for going to court. We are absolutely sure that international agreements have been violated," he said. "Court, yes, it's an extreme measure but nothing has changed for one-and-a-half years."

Ukraine is seeking a revision to accords with Russia signed by the previous Ukrainian government to obtain lower prices for its gas imports from Russia 's Gazprom. Yanukovych said that Kiev is overpaying by $5-6 billion annually.

Yanukovych said the basis of Ukraine-Russia gas relations should be the 2001 accords--not the 2009 10-year deal that ended a cut in supplies signed by ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, now on trial for abuse of power.

"The price is not fair for Ukraine . The conditions have been set out as if for an enemy," he said.

He said Ukraine was paying way more for Russian gas than Germany . If Kiev continued "overpaying" in the next 10 years, then Ukraine would lose $60 billion, or 20% of the budget anually.

Recent tough rhetoric against Kiev by Medvedev was "completely incorrect", Yanukovych added. "We are not poor relations. We are an independent state."

OAO Gazprom (OGZPY) chief executive Alexei Miller responded that Ukraine was receiving Russian gas at cheaper rates than Hungary , Poland , Romania and Turkey while Kiev 's transit fees were higher than those in Germany .

"Our Ukrainian colleagues have got on a train called 'cheap Russian gas' and they don't know what station to get out at," he said. "They don't know they might end up in a dead end."

Miller said that Ukraine had an obligation to fulfill the 10-year contract signed in 2009 every year right up until its expiration date in 2019.

Putin said Tuesday's launch of the Nord Stream pipeline that will take Russian gas to Europe means that Moscow will no longer be dependent on Kiev for gas transit. "Our relations will be of a more civilised nature," he said.

Yanukovych was seen as a pro-Kremlin figure when he came to power after defeating the leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution in 2010 polls. But he has since set integration with the European Union as the goal of his presidency.


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