MOSCOW, April 05, /ITAR-TASS/. Nobody has pressed Ukraine. The gas contract concluded in 2009 remains in force, and the Ukrainian side keeps to it, in terms of international trade practice, Gazprom's spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov has said.

"Actually, the contract which is in force now with the price, which has been announced, was signed in 2009 and has been in force all the time. Naftogaz of Ukraine has been carrying it out. It means the company has recognized it," he said on Russia television in the broadcast "Saturday News with Sergei Brilyov".

Kupriyanov noted two discounts had been removed. One was given in accordance with the so-called Kharkov agreements, when the Russian government lowered the gas price for Ukraine in return for the Sevastopol port lease for the Black Sea Fleet. The discount came into force, but the agreement specified a period of the fleet deployment beginning from 2017, that is in advance.

The other discount was given in late 2013 "in connection with Ukraine's sincere wish to change something in our relationship", Kupriyanov said, adding that it did not happen, and so, the terms would be revised.