Russia's gas monopoly said in a statement it would buy 9 billion cubic metres of Uzbek gas in 2006 - enough to supply a country such as Austria for a year - up from 8 bcm in 2005 and 5 bcm in the previous years. Gazprom, which is keen to buy more gas from Central Asian states of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to postpone costly development of its own Arctic fields, also agreed to pay 25 percent more for Uzbek gas - $60 per 1,000 cubic metres. The deal was signed at a meeting between the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller and Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Russia's Kommersant daily reported that Gazprom, the world's No.1 gas company, wanted a de facto monopoly on gas exports from Uzbekistan. In return, Russia would help Karimov deal with protests and protect it from the West, the paper said. A Gazprom official in Moscow said certain deals confirming previous agreements as well as some new ones could be signed between the two sides later in the year. Russia and Uzbekistan are currently preparing to sign a $1 billion production sharing agreement to develop gas fields in the west of the Central Asian country. Karimov's relations with the West have soured in the past year since Uzbek troops bloodily suppressed an uprising in the eastern town of Andizhan, but Moscow, keen to strengthen its position in the ex-Soviet world, has defended his actions. Witnesses said around 500 unarmed civilians died, but Uzbek officials said 187 died and blame the uprising on ''foreign-paid terrorists.'' Since then the authorities have cracked down on the independent media and foreign-funded organisations. Analysts are closely watching Gazprom's dealings in Uzbekistan and other ex-Soviet countries after Russia briefly disrupted gas supplies to Europe this month in a row with Ukraine over gas prices. ''Gazprom looks set to increase its dominance of the Eurasian gas trade if reports that it is planning to acquire control of the Uzbek gas industry are correct,'' United Financial Group said in a note in Moscow. ''Having access to growing Uzbek volumes would give Gazprom a better bargaining position with (neighbouring) Turkmenistan.'' Uzbekistan produces 55 bcm a year and consumes the bulk of the volumes at home. Gazprom estimates the country's reserves at 6.25 trillion cubic metres - enough to supply the world for more than two years - but says large investment in infrastructure is needed to increase exports of the fuel to global markets. PIN/NEW KERALA