In 10 years, the Ukraine to stop depending on Russian gas

The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk believes his country will put an end to its dependence on Russian gas in the next 10 years, using diversified sources of its supply, the web-site of the Ukrainian Cabinet reported on Tuesday.

"We are working to survive the winter and to reduce our dependence on Russian gas. And I see that in ten years we will diversify our sources of the gas supply and Russia will forever cease to blackmail the Ukraine," – the web-site cites the statement of the Prime Minister at the meeting of the Ukrainian Government for preparation for the winter period.

Yatseniuk also recalled that the Ukrainian gas storages accumulated about 17 billion cubic meters of gas. However, he added that if the Ukraine doesn’t buy additional volumes of natural gas from Russia, it will have to significantly reduce the volume of the consumption, especially in the chemical sector and in industry.

According to him, 15 billion cubic meters of 25 billion cubic meters of gas, which the Ukraine bought from Russia, are substituted with gas, purchased by the Ukrainian side from European companies through reverse flows, but stresses that this amount is not enough.