INTERVIEW - Ukraine deputy PM sees no 3rd "gas war" with Russia

By Richard Balmforth

KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian deputy prime minister expressed confidence on Tuesday that there would be no new end-of-year dispute with Russia over gas supplies, but conceded that meeting monthly bills was not easy.

Russia cut gas supplies to western Europe across Ukraine in January 2006 and again in January this year during a row with its ex-Soviet neighbour over gas prices and payments.

A three-week standoff in the last dispute affected hundreds of thousands of Europeans and ended with a 10-year agreement being signed between Russia and Ukraine.

"I am confident that this year there are reasons to believe that there will be no third gas war," Deputy Prime Minister Hryhory Nemyrya said in an interview with Reuters.

Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz pays the Russian Gazprom monthly according to a variable price for the quarter calculated by the two sides.

Asked specifically about the October bill, Nemyrya said Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, due to meet her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for bilateral talks on Nov. 19 and 20, was doing everything to stop a new dispute breaking out.

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