KIEV, Dec. 26 - President Viktor Yanukovych criticized as “ineffective” the operation of a state agency handling key infrastructure projects in the country, including construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal.

KIEV, Dec. 26 – Ukraine will “gradually” introduce a floating exchange rate allowing the hryvnia to lose or to gain value considerably in forex trading as required by the International Monetary Fund, Economy Minister Ihor Prasolov said.

MOSCOW, Dec. 23 - Ukraine will pump less gas due to construction of the Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipelines, President Viktor Yanukovych said in an interview with the newspaper Izvestiya published on Friday.

KIEV, Dec. 23 – The issue of selling Ukraine's gas transportation system (GTS) is not on the agenda and will not be raised in future, Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said.

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.

KIEV, Dec. 26 - Russia's desire to maintain its advantages under the current gas contracts with Ukraine is the main obstacle to concluding the gas negotiations, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

KIEV, Dec. 23 – Parliament has passed a law which regulates gold mining by the National Bank of Ukraine and the law on relaxation of taxation on sales of precious metals to the central bank.

Draft laws No. 9440 and 9441 were supported by 266 and 265 lawmakers respectively on Thursday.

MOSCOW, Dec. 26 - Ukraine and Russia will renew gas talks on Jan. 15 as they strive to avert a standoff over pricing, Russia's Gazprom said on Monday, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Dec. 24 - The Prosecutor General's Office has detained former Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration and Deputy Head of the State Customs Service Viktor Bondar on abuse charges.

"The former governor of Dnipropetrovsk region and deputy head of the State Customs Service Bondar was today called in for questioning and arrested on abuse charges," Prosecutor General Oleksandr Pshonka said at a press conference in Kiev.

KIEV, Dec. 23 – Parliament has adopted the country's state budget for 2011 with a deficit of UAH 38.84 billion, or 3.1% of projected GDP.

A total of 279 lawmakers out of the 298 registered in the parliament's session hall on Thursday voted for the law.