MOSCOW, April 29 (Reuters) - Tensions between Russia and Ukraine over gas are easing, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Wednesday before the start of talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"The times when a kind of confrontation was felt is moving into the past," she said, adding she was grateful Russia had not imposed fines on Ukraine for consuming smaller volumes of gas than agreed.
The meeting with Putin was her first since agreeing terms in January to end a winter gas row that halted supplies to Europe.
She angered Moscow in March by backing a deal with the EU to modernise Ukraine's gas pipeline network without Russian help.
The EU deal lost her Putin's trust and delayed March talks on a $5 billion loan to help Ukraine's struggling economy pay gas bills after Russia told Tymoshenko not to come for talks.
Russia has also said it may start imposing fines on Ukraine for low gas consumption.
A Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday Tymoshenko may offer Russia to jointly build a new gas pipeline but would refrain from inviting Moscow to participate in the entire network's overhaul.
Putin did not comment on gas issues and praised increasing trade relations between the two states.
"Despite all the problems in the global economy at the start of this year, and the end of last year our trade turnover grew, and grew substantially. That shows that on the economic front our relations are strong," he said. (Reporting by Simon Shuster, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Sue Thomas)