Ukraine PM Has Mandate For Gas Talks

`The prime minister has a full mandate at the talks. Otherwise, she would not be taking part in them,` the source said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has a full mandate to negotiate in gas talks with Russia, a source in President Viktor Yushchenko's office told Reuters on Saturday.

"The prime minister has a full mandate at the talks. Otherwise, she would not be taking part in them," the source said.

"There are no differences in the positions of the president and prime minister," the source said.

Another source close to Saturday's talks in Moscow said earlier Tymoshenko had come "empty-handed" to the negotiations. She and Yushchenko are locked in a bitter domestic political dispute.