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price, expected to be around $450 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter.Ukraine paid $179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in 2008. Gazprom had insisted on a market price of $450 for 2009.
The Ukrainian president's envoy on energy security said Monday that Russia had proposed Ukraine pay $360 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in the first quarter of 2009. "The price for gas offered to Ukraine is worse than for other European countries," Bohdan Sokolovskiy said.
The Ukrainskaya Pravda publication quoted Tymoshenko as saying that the average annual price for Russian gas for Ukraine would be less than $250 per 1,000 cu m. The office of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko predicted on Monday that the average price for the year would be $199.
The Ukrainian prime minister said on Monday that the Russian gas transit price, which remains at its previous level of $1.7 per 1,000 cu m for 100 km, would be profitable for Ukraine.