"Japanese companies have expressed their common willingness to participate in the modernization of Ukraine's gas transport system," the Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko reported, although did not elaborate on which firms could be involved.
The announcement came after Kiev and the EU signed a cooperation pledge earlier in the week aimed at encouraging investment and avoiding a repeat of January's gas dispute, which resulted in a temporary cut in Russian gas supplies.
Russia, which transits about 80% of its Europe-bound gas via Ukraine, reacted badly to the news accusing the EU of deliberately excluding it from talks.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told reporters earlier that gas agreements signed between Russia, Ukraine and the EU in February on a format for future cooperation have been "clearly violated."
Author: Ksenia Kochneva
