MOSCOW, Sept. 16 - Russia will build the South Stream gas pipeline even if it is offered a stake in Ukraine's gas pipeline system on favorable terms, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko told journalists.

"It's not even an issue. We aren't bargaining at all," he said.

South Stream, like the renovation of the Ukrainian gas pipeline system, is about diversifying gas supply routes. "I believe that our Ukrainian colleagues will have to get used to living in a competitive environment, in permanent market conditions," he said.