BERLIN, April 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine would have to save energy and extract more gas in its territory, Ukrainian parliament-appointed Minister of Economic Development and Trade Pavlo Sheremeta said in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt on Friday.
When asked whether Ukraine could pay for Russian gas, the minister said, "We must do it. Of course, the prices are unfair and very high. We are negotiating with Russia and want to have them lowered." "First of all, we must now begin to save energy and modernize our economy," he noted.
"We will try to extract more own gas of our own and open new ways of supplies, which will allow us to become less dependent on Russia," Sheremeta said.
The minister described the state of Ukraine's economy as very grave, but not hopeless. He explained that when new leaders came to power in Kiev, the state budget was almost zero."