KIEV, April 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Naftogaz Ukrainy may import 1.7-2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas in April, parliament-appointed Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Prodan said on Thursday, April 3.

“Ukraine may import 1.7-2 bcm. This is exactly how much we need,” he said.

Prodan said the price of $485.5 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas was too high a price. “This is an exorbitantly high price and Russia should understand that there are no other such [price] analogues,” he told a news conference in Kiev.

The minister said it would be less costly for Ukraine to import gas from Europe.

Speaking about the price for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe, Prodan said. “It’s subject to negotiation.”

He said Ukraine would like to go back to the agreement with Russia reached in late 2013, which allowed Kiev to buy Russian gas at a price of $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters and get a $15 bln loan from Russia.

“We have to begin negotiations in order to go back to that price. This is probably the price that ensured stable work of our gas transportation system,” the minister said.

The agreement envisaged the disbursement of $2 bln to Ukraine in 2014, which Kiev would automatically have used to pay the debt for Russian gas, which Prodan estimated at about $2 bln.