* Talks likely on gas transit and consortium, visa regime
* Few results expected, Yanukovich to visit Moscow on Friday
By Sabina Zawadzki
KIEV, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich is expected to discuss the transit of Russian gas with European Union leaders on Monday on a visit signalling a desire for more balanced ties with Russia and Europe.
Yanukovich, who said in his inaugural speech last week that he wants "equal and mutually advantageous" ties with the EU and Russia, opted to go to Brussels on his first foreign trip as president but will visit Moscow on Friday.
He is expected to seek progress towards visa-free travel for Ukrainians in the 27-country EU but big breakthroughs are unlikely in any of his initial meetings.
"It's a strong signal that he's coming to Brussels first, ahead of going to Moscow," said a spokesman for the European Commission, the EU executive.
He will meet Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU President Herman Van Rompuy, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Yanukovich, the Moscow-backed candidate whose election was overturned by the "Orange Revolution" protests of 2004, is expected to tilt Ukraine closer towards Russia but also wants to show he favours further integration with Europe.
But he defeated Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko only narrowly in an election run-off on Feb. 7 and, like his predecessor as president, could find his ability to act limited by political battles with her and with parliament.
Enthusiasm for Ukraine has waned in the EU since the Orange Revolution ushered in pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko but also led to five years of political turmoil.
The former Soviet republic of 46 million people is no closer now to joining the EU or NATO than in 2004.
"For the EU, it is important to hear the president to see how his understanding of foreign policy priorities corresponds to the EU's ideas about Ukraine," said Yuri Yakymenko, head of political department at the Razumkov Centre think tank.
"For Yanukovich, the first foreign policy successes will be important. Of course there won't be any decisions taken ... but the possibility of Ukraine to achieve its goals -- a visa-free regime and the gas consortium -- will be defined," he said.
RUSSIA STILL KEY
Ukraine, which is squeezed between Russia and EU member state Poland, is a vital transit route for the Russian energy supplies on which Europe is heavily dependent.
Yanukovich has proposed the creation of a consortium with European and Russian participation that could manage the Ukrainian pipeline system -- but not own it.
This would help modernise the creaky infrastructure while potentially avoiding a repetition of the cuts of Russian gas supplies to Europe in January last year, when Moscow and Kiev rowed over gas prices.
"Europe could be pleased with Yanukovich's idea of creating a gas consortium, but only under the aegis of the EU," Viktor Nebozhenko, of the Ukrainian Barometer think tank, said.
Better relations between Kiev and Moscow -- a potential lender to Ukraine as it struggles with an economic crisis -- could be important for the EU if it wants to avoid being drawn into disputes on its eastern border.
Yushchenko angered Moscow with a drive for membership of the NATO military alliance and with his focus on Ukrainian history and language to the detriment of Russian traditions.
He backed Georgia against Russia during their brief war in August 2008 and refused to allow Moscow to extend its lease beyond 2017 for its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.
Yanukovich hopes to start undoing some of the damage dealt to ties with Russia when he visits Moscow on Friday. (Additional reporting by Yuri Kulikov; editing by Timothy Heritage and Philippa Fletcher)