KIEV, Dec. 26 - The 2009 gas agreements with Russia are enslaving and confirm that Russia has no desire to transition to an "equal relationship," Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on the television program Shuster Live on Friday evening.

"If the Russians think the agreements were excellent, for us they were bondage. That's why it's so hard for them to reject them and transition to an equal relationship," he said.