ASHGABAT, Dec. 29 - Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly, will import 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Turkmenistan in 2006

MOSCOW, Dec. 29 - Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a $3.6 bln loan to Ukraine on Thursday apparently to offset a skyrocketing natural gas price that Russia plans to charge Ukraine starting Jan. 1, 2006.

MOSCOW, Dec. 29 - Russia and Ukraine are facing a "crisis" in bilateral relations amid a failure to resolve the natural gas dispute that threatens supplies to the European Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

KIEV, Dec. 29 ??“ Sharpening of the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia has yet no affect on the Ukrainian stock market, but would probably happen in January, First Securities Trading System (PFTS) President Iryna Zaria said Wednesday.

KIEV, Dec. 29 ??“ The Ukrainian government plans to attract about 40 billion hryvnias within 3-4 years to implement the energy saving programs, Industrial Policy Minister Volodymyr Shandra said Wednesday.

KIEV, Dec. 29 ??“ Ukraine's car making industry will boost production 11% on the year in 2005 to 200,000 cars in 2005, up from 180,000 cars produced in 2004, Yuriy Yakovenko, the head of the automotive department at the Industrial Policy Ministry, said.

KIEV, Dec. 28 - Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who won Sunday??™s presidential election, called on thousands of his supporters to blockade government offices Wednesday to prevent a Cabinet meeting that his opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, plans to hold.

KIEV, Dec. 28 ??“ Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader who won the Sunday presidential election, began consultations Tuesday with groups over a new coalition government that will include former government loyalists that had switched sides.

KYIV, Nov 29 – The European Commission is currently completing an assessment of Ukraine's outstanding conditions that must be met by the end of the EU Macro-Financial Assistance + program in 2023, which will allow the final tranche of this assistance in the amount of EUR 1.5 billion to be issued in December, said Head of the Trade and Economic Section of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Alberto Fernandez-Diez.

KYIV, Nov 29 – Some 78% of polled Ukrainians would vote for Ukraine's accession to the European Union if such a referendum were held, while only 5% of respondents oppose joining the EU, according to the results of a national survey "Dynamics of Ukrainians' Sentiments about International Unions" conducted by the Sociological Group Rating on November 22-23.