Ukraine is ready to pay $1.9 billion to Russia for gas consumed if an agreement on the interim price of $326 per 1,000 cubic meters is reached.

"Yes, we're ready to pay $1.9 billion if the agreement is reached," Board Chairman of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.

He said that the interim price of $326 per 1,000 cubic meters proposed by the European Union is not a market price, although Ukraine is ready to agree to the compromise and set it, for example, for 18 months to achieve the final agreement with Gazprom or settle the issue in court.

"After achieving the final agreement or settling the issue in court it will be obvious who is to pay to whom," he said.