Ukraine and Russia sign memorandum on gas supplies

Yesterday Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a memorandum on direct long-term gas supplies to Ukraine, starting January 1, 2009. The parties confirmed their intensions to switch to market prices both for gas supplies and gas transit over the next three years. The parties also reached an agreement to keep Naftogaz of Ukraine as the only importer of gas for Ukrainian consumers and to jointly export gas.