KIEV, Nov. 22 – A proposed project to modernize the aging gas pipeline network in Ukraine should go ahead, President Viktor Yanukovych said, but vowed not to cede control of the pipelines to Russia.

The head of state said in an interview with three foreign news agencies ahead of an EU-Ukraine summit that the modernization of Ukrainian gas pipelines was a less costly and more effective alternative to the South Stream gas pipeline project that would transport Russian natural gas under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and other European countries bypassing Ukraine.

Yanukovych insisted that Kiev was a reliable partner and should not be excluded from energy relations.