Ukraine welcomes the initiative of Russian Federation President Dmitriy Medvedev concerning the energy collaboration, which was put forward in Helsinki (Finland) on April 20.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, President’s Commissioner for International Energy Security Bohdan Sokolovskiy said this to a pres conference in Kyiv.

“Of course, we are happy that with this statement, the Russian Federation leadership, in fact, supported initiatives of President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko, aimed at establishing a balance of interests between the countries-producers, transiting countries, and countries-consumers”, B.Sokolovskiy said.

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He added that it was for the first time that Russia claimed about a balance of interests.

According to B.Sokolovskiy, presently the Ukrainian Presidential Secretariat is waiting for proposals from the Russian Federation concerning the energy collaboration.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday he wanted to clinch a new energy pact with the European Union to ensure security of supplies and replace the European Energy Charter, which Moscow rejects, Reuters reported. Russia has refused to ratify the European Energy charter, saying it does not ensure a balance of the interests of energy producers, buyers and transit states. "Our task is to ensure the balance of producers, transit states and energy buyers... We would like to start talks with the European Union and our other partners about these documents and hope our ideas will be taken positively," he said. Medvedev`s economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters afterwards the new document will cover coal and nuclear fuel along with oil and gas. "We are really interested in the nuclear materials` angle. We should spread the principles in this sphere as well," he said.