Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is holding talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Azarov in Moscow.
The talks, which also involve Gazprom head Alexei Miller and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, are taking place at the Vnukovo 2 airport, from where Putin will fly to Smolensk, the scene of a plane crash that claimed the lives of 97 people, including the Polish president, earlier on Saturday.
The meeting is likely to see a discussion of natural gas and steel pipe issues facing the two countries.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was inaugurated in February, is seeking to revise the long-term gas deal signed by then prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Putin in early 2009, which increased the price Ukraine paid for Russian gas, further straining the country's troubled finances.
In return for cheaper gas, Ukraine could offer Russia a stake in its gas transportation system, which currently carries about 80% of Russian natural gas exports to Europe, and a discount for Russian gas transit to European consumers.
Azarov earlier told the Ukrainian cabinet that he was confident of reaching a deal with Russia on lower prices soon.
Earlier this year, Russia introduced a market gas price for Ukraine, which Kiev says is "unreasonably high." The price is set at $305 per 1,000 cu m (tcm) of Russian gas in the first quarter and $320 in the second. Media earlier reported that Ukraine would like to see the price go down to $260 per tcm.
The Ukrainian government has complained that Belarus, Russia's other main western neighbor only pays $168. Russia says the reason for this difference in price is that Belarus is part of a Customs Union with Russia and Kazakhstan while Ukraine is not.
The Ukrainian premier could also discuss with Putin the issue of resuming duty-free supplies of Ukrainian pipes to Russia.
Russia halted from April 1 the imports of Ukrainian steel pipes duty free over the failure of the two ex-Soviet republics to agree on a quota for the second quarter of 2010.
"I hope we will soon agree on duty-free supplies of pipes to Russia," Azarov told Ukrainian TV channel Inter on Friday.
MOSCOW, April 10 (RIA Novosti)
