KHARKIV, March 12 – Naftogaz Ukrayiny expects that when the 2010/2011 heating season comes to an end (May 2011), the tariffs for gas for households will grow by 26%, according to Naftogaz Chairman Yevhen Bakulin.

"We planned that the tariffs would grow by 26% at the end of the heating season, so that the increase hit poor citizens as little as possible. We're considering subsidies," he said at a briefing in Kharkiv on Friday.

He said that the today tariffs could be named a subsidy for all Ukrainians irrespective of their income.

"Even those foreign tourists and guests who come to the country use the same cheap gas everyone uses. Probably it's not right. It's better to adjust [the tariffs]," he said.