MOSCOW, March 25 (Reuters) - Moscow will likely tell Kyiv on Thursday to share gas pipelines and return property taken from Russian firms and tycoons by Ukraine's former leaders if it wants to see a cut in its huge Russian gas bill.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will meet his counterpart Mykola Azarov, a close ally of Ukraine’s new President Viktor Yanukovych, who Moscow hopes will help rebuild ties after years of frosty relations with Ukraine’s former pro-Western leaders.
Yanukovych and Azarov have said cutting Russian gas prices was a top priority to support the economy in difficult times and that they were prepared to change legislation that forbids pipelines privatisation.
That would allow Russia and the European Union to co-manage and upgrade the outdated system and possibly allow Kyiv to persuade Moscow not to build the expensive South Stream pipeline to bypass its territory.
The idea of new pipelines to bypass Ukraine emerged after two gas pricing disputes between Moscow and Kyiv which disrupted Russian gas flows to Europe. The continent receives one fifth of its overall gas needs from Russia via Ukrainian pipelines.
Putin’s office said in a statement that gas would be one of the key topics on the agenda together with prospects for Russian investments in Ukraine.
"Ukraine is a key country for capital investments by Russian business," it said in a statement.
Kommersant business daily cited unnamed sources on Thursday as saying Putin would tell Azarov that Moscow wanted more concessions than just a deal on pipelines.
"Moscow is now seeking a revision of the results of the property shake-up in Ukraine which took place during the leadership of (former President) Viktor Yushchenko, when many Russian oligarchs lost assets in the country," the daily said.
One of the main issues involves Russian mid-sized oil firm Tatneft, which sued Ukraine for around $1 billion over lost crude and the ownership rights to a major Ukrainian refinery
Kommersant also said another property rights issue involved Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg’s gas trading firms and that the two sides will also discuss cooperating on nuclear power station construction.
