Russia is ready to buy US$10 billion of bonds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a message addressing the IMF.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told media on Monday that Putin in the same message "pointed to the need for extending extra support to Ukraine in order to prevent a disruption of gas supplies during the autumn and winter season," the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Kudrin said a similar message was forwarded to the European Union (EU). He said that "Russia is ready to join these support efforts, on the condition, though, they are exerted by the IMF and the EU."

In the messages, Putin also noted that the US$10 billion should be used to help countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including assisting Ukraine in solving problems in its energy sector, according to the Russian government website.

World leaders at the G20 London summit in April pledged to boost support for the IMF by injecting a US$500-billion emergency lending into it, partly through issuance of bonds.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has asked the government to study the feasibility of buying the IMF bonds after the summit.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2009)