Ukrainian President to Discuss Gas Deal, Customs Union in Moscow

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich will visit Russia September 24, RIA Novosti said, citing the Kremlin’s press service.

According to the agency, the Ukrainian leader will travel to Moscow on the invitation of his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev.

The agenda of the upcoming Yanukovich-Medvedev meeting reportedly includes the bitterly disputed issues of prices for Russian natural gas, and Ukraine’s integration into the Customs Union.  Earlier, Kommersant  said that this meeting would demonstrate how much Moscow and Kiev are ready to reconcile. 

Ukrainian leaders have complained throughout the summer that they their standing gas trade arrangement with Moscow, which was signed under different leadership in Kiev, is unfair. Furthermore, Ukraine has deflected Russian suggestions it join the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Custom’s Union.

Not long before the upcoming visit, Yanukovich proposed at the Yalta Annual Meeting to construct the Russia-backed South Stream pipeline through southern Ukraine, not the Black Sea seabed, according to RIA Novosti. 

"South Stream should be constructed on land in Ukraine. It will be much cheaper than the current project in the works, which costs 25 billion euro. A land project would be five times cheaper,” Yanukovich said.

Ukraine could potentially reap significant annual transit fees if the pipeline were built within its territory, as opposed to circumventing it through the sea.