Ukraine to offer Russia small pipeline deal - paper

MOSCOW, April 29 (Reuters) - Ukraine will offer to revive a $350 million project with Russia to jointly build a new pipeline for Russian gas, Russian daily newspaper Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is due to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday for the first time since a winter gas row between the two countries halted supplies to Europe in early January. [ID:nLS525822]

Ukraine, which last month snubbed Moscow by striking a deal with the European Union to upgrade its pipeline network, will offer Russia a smaller project to boost its capacity by 30 billion cubic metres, Kommersant reported.

The two countries agreed on a similar project in 2003 but put it off indefinitely a year later. Ukraine's new offer might not interest Moscow, the newspaper wrote.

"Russia considers it necessary to cooperate on the whole gas shipping system (of Ukraine), not just a new pipeline," Kommersant wrote. (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Michael Urquhart)