A reduction in the price of Russian natural gas for Ukraine to $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters from about $400 per 1,000 cubic meters will help cut the price of gas for budget-sustained and industrial consumers by almost a third, but this reduction will be extended in time until the fourth quarter of 2014, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said.

"We have created the reserves of gas at a price of about $400 per 1,000 cubic meters," he said at a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday, while explaining the reasons for a gradual reduction in the cost of gas for Ukrainian industrial consumers.