| Part 6 Speaking during his annual televised Q&A session with the public,Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin The session lasted for about three hours. The Russian Prime Minister and the leader of the most popular Russian political party, United Russia, covered a variety of issues ranging from the global financial crisis to relations with Europe and the United States to purely domestic topics. В прямом эфире телеканалов «Россия» и «Вести», радиостанций «Маяк» и «Радио России» Владимир Путин Председатель Правительства и лидер партии «Единая Россия» ответил на вопросы, поступившие в общественные приемные Председателя партии, заданные по телефону, sms, а также через сайт программы.Трансляция идет из Гостиного двора в Москве. As regards Ukraine, we have a complex ongoing dialogue. It is true that our Ukrainian partners have outstanding debts, over $2.5 billion, which is quite a big amount for Gazprom and for the country as a whole. We are aware that the Ukrainian economy is having even bigger problems than Russia: the metallurgical industry there, as far as I know, has dropped not by 50%, like here, but by 70%, and that is very serious. Nevertheless, commodities cannot be free, everyone has to pay for them. Our partners tell us: keep the prices of the current year. How can we leave the prices of the current year if even today our Ukrainian partners get our gas at almost half the price of what we get from Europe. We have an understanding to work towards market prices. We cannot ... |
