KIEV, Sept. 18 – Ukraine by 2020 could almost stop consuming Russian gas, which would be the foundation of the energy independence of the state, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said.

"The market gas price is a crude way to force the modernization of the country, which Ukraine has been longing for for ages, and as a result [we will gain] complete energy independence," Tymoshenko said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda online edition.