Viktor Yanukovych, who according to preliminary results won Ukraine's presidential election, could seek better terms for Kiev in gas contracts signed with Moscow last year, a deputy head of Yanukovych's party said on Thursday.
Russia and Ukraine have long fought over natural gas deliveries, jeopardizing supplies to Europe, which gets around a quarter of its gas from Russia. In the latest row at the start of 2009, Russia halted all deliveries via Ukraine's pipeline system for two weeks.
"I think Viktor Fyodorovich [Yanukovych] will bring up the question of better terms and tariffs," Party of Regions deputy chairman Boris Kolesnikov said.
Last year's gas conflict was resolved when a deal on gas imports and transit was agreed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, who lost to Yanukovych in Sunday's presidential election runoff.
President Viktor Yushchenko has consistently called for the deal to be reviewed, something that has been ruled out by both Russia and Tymoshenko, once an ally of Yushchenko but now a bitter rival.
Kolesnikov also hinted that the Yanukovych camp expected Ukraine to become a major gas transit country for the South Stream gas pipeline.
South Stream is intended to be laid on the Black Sea floor, bypassing Ukraine and running through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Italy and Greece.
"Ukraine has every chance to become a major transit country for South Stream," Kolesnikov said.
Yanukovych himself earlier voiced support for Ukrainian participation in both South Stream and Nord Stream, designed to pump gas from Siberia to Europe under the Baltic Sea. Both projects would reduce Russia's dependence on transit countries when pumping gas to Western Europe.
KIEV, February 11 (RIA Novosti)
