The Russian and Ukrainian presidents did...
to be a full-fledged partner in all gas issues with both Russia and the European Union.Yanukovych, who was inaugurated on February 25, said during his election campaign that he would seek better terms for Kiev in gas contracts signed with Moscow last year.
Russia and Ukraine have long fought over natural gas deliveries, jeopardizing supplies to Europe, which gets around a quarter of its gas from Russia. In the latest row at the start of 2009, Russia halted all deliveries via Ukraine"s pipeline system for two weeks.
Last year"s gas conflict was resolved when a deal on gas imports and transit was agreed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, who lost to Yanukovych in the February 7 presidential election runoff.
Yanukovych also earlier pledged to involve Russia in a gas consortium to modernize and manage the Ukrainian gas transportation system to ensure uninterrupted gas supplies to Europe.