"The law on passing the gas transportation system in concession after the creation of gas transportation consortium is practically ready," said the first vice-premier Andriy Kliuyev. Only Russia that in response are to review the disadvantageous contract signed on January 19, 2009 with Ukraine would join this concortium. Specifically, the price of gas should not be significantly higher than in Belarus, because our economies are quite similar. Now the gas price for Ukraine is US $305 per thousand cubic meters, while Belarus pays just US $168. However, Russia will easily win over the decline in prices of cross-border rates with a help of Ukrainian consumers. One of the conditions of the gas consortium with Russian is passing the rights for gas trade on the territory of Ukraine to Russian Gazprom.

"The need for gas transportation consortium is usually explained with the fact that Ukrainian gas transport system is in bad condition and requires major repairs. However, in 2002 the creation of consortium had already been discussed, but then nobody blaimed it on the need of repairs, but the stumbling block was a new branch Bohorodchany-Uzhgorod gas pipeline with a capacity 142 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Ukraine would like to build it and Russia is quite satisfied with what already exists in Ukraine,” says the president of the Center for Economic Development Oleksandr Paskhaver. “National consortium actually means, where would be the border Russian gas transit to the EU. If it included the western countries, as planned by government of Yulia Tymoshenko in the past year, this transit would begin at the Ukraine-Russia border, but in Azarov version, it still would continue to start at the western border of Ukraine, meaning Ukraine will still be liable for any disruptions of gas supplies in the EU regardless of their causes," argues Paskhaver.