KIEV, Feb. 10 - Ukraine is ready to pay an undisclosed portion of its debt to Gazprom in exchange a direct natural gas supply deal abandoning so-called middlemen, First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov said Sunday.

Ukraine accuses the two intermediaries, RosUkrEnergo and UkrGaz-Energo, gas traders de-facto controlled by Gazprom, of using non-transparent practices while supplying imported natural gas to the country.