MOSCOW, Feb. 21 - The shale gas deposits that Ukraine hopes to find and develop won't reduce its reliance on gas from Russia, the head of Gazprom Export LLC's contract structuring and pricing department, Sergei Komlev, said at a roundtable on current problems in the European energy sector.

"There is no point in hoping that shale gas will be the magic wand that ends Ukraine's dependence on gas from Russia," he said.