MOSCOW, Oct. 15 - The Russian government is considering Ukraine's proposal to revise the natural gas price formula in the 10-year agreement signed in January 2009, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said Friday.

This is the first time that a Russian official admitted that a change in formula is possible and comes ahead of a meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Azarov on Oct. 27.

"We are considering the proposal of the Ukrainian party as to approaches to changing principles of price formation," Shmatko told reporters in Moscow. "The attitude of the Russian side to the request of the Ukrainian side on this issue is amicable."

Azarov said repeatedly last month that the formula is unfair for Ukraine and insisted that it must be revised before 2011 in order to maintain good relations between the two nations.

Both countries signed the 10-year gas supply and transit contract in January 2009, ending a two-week halt in Europe-bound gas deliveries during freezing January temperatures.

In April, Russia gave Ukraine a $100 discount per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in exchange for extending the lease on a Black Sea naval base.

Konstantin Simonov, director of the independent National Energy Security Fund in Moscow, said that Russia has been putting pressure on Ukraine by threatening to launch South Stream, an alternative gas pipeline that would bypass Ukraine on the way to Europe.