KIEV, March 4 - President Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ended their talks near Moscow on Monday without issuing any statements, a sign the parties had failed to sort out differences.

Yanukovych traveled for the meeting with Putin in Zavidovo, 120 kilometers north of Moscow, to discuss creation of a joint venture that would operate the massive Ukrainian gas pipeline network that moves Russian gas to Europe.

Ukraine hopes the progress on the joint venture would help persuade Russia to lower its natural gas prices for Ukraine to end a three-year old impasse.

Shortly before the meting, Yanukovych said that Putin government experts had made “deep advances” in natural gas talks and the meeting of the two presidents would “make further progress in solving these issues.”

Putin responded that the parties were to “exchange views” on issues “restricting our cooperation and what can be done to make sure it grows at a faster pace.”

Russia has been insisting on bilateral joint venture to include Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrayiny, while Yanukovych had last week suggested a possibility the JV to also include a European company.

The JV is supposed to operate the gas transportation system that moves up to 70% of Russia’s Europe-bound gas supplies and would also invest in its modernization.

Yanukovych on Friday ruled out any possibility of selling the Ukrainian gas pipelines, which are considered as strategically important assets for the country, and said the joint venture would only be able to rent the pipelines.

Russia has been pushing for a deal similar to the one reached with Belarus, according to which Gazprom of Russia has obtained control over its pipeline in exchange for lower gas prices.

Other important issues discussed with Putin includes construction of two nuclear power units at Khmelnytskiy Nuclear Power Plant and joint manufacturing of Antonov AN-70 and Antonov AN-124 cargo airplanes that can be used by the Russian military.

“We have to approve decision to speed up construction of the nuclear power units,” Yanukovych told Putin before the meeting, according to the press service of the Ukrainian president.

Ukraine is capable of shipping up to 120 billion cubic meters/year of Russian natural gas to Europe, but the volume of shipments has declined in 2012, reflecting weaker demand in Europe.

But the shipments also dropped because Russia had built Nord Stream, a gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to Germany, in November 2011 to bypass Ukraine on the way to Europe.

Ukraine views Nord Stream, along with a planned South Stream gas pipeline that would cross the Black Sea to Bulgaria, as routes that may undermine the Ukrainian gas transportation business that earns about $2 billion annually. (tl/ez)