KIEV, Jan. 3 - Ukraine has submitted an application to purchase 27 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian natural gas in 2012, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boyko said in an interview with Ukraine's Channel 5.

"We submitted an application for 27 bcm of gas, and on January 1 we will begin to recover gas in accordance with this application… We warned our Russian partners that our economy cannot withstand such a gas price, and we will transfer to our own energy resources," he said.