Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that the price of Russian natural gas for Ukraine could be set at a level of average European prices.

"The gas price for Ukraine could be set at a level of average European prices," he said in an interview with the Inter television channel on Sunday evening.

Azarov said that a large number of documents related to the settlement of relations in the gas sector were being prepared for a meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian interstate commission that will be held in Moscow on December 17.

"The time has come when the sides came to the opinion that it's time to settle this [gas] issue. We did not ask for any discounts for ourselves, but we only talked about European prices, we talked about European principles and approaches to pricing, and I hope that we will finally resolve this issue at this meeting," Azarov said.

He said that a final decision would be taken at a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian Presidents Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin on December 17.