Russian gas flow to Europe halted

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-14 10:33

MOSCOW – Russia's natural gas supplies bound for a freezing Europe were halted again on Tuesday only a few hours after a truce in its "gas war" with Ukraine, dashing EU hopes of an end to the crisis.

The headquarters of Russian gas giant Gazprom are illuminated at night in Moscow. Russia's natural gas supplies bound for a freezing Europe were halted again on Tuesday only a few hours after a truce in its "gas war" with Ukraine, dashing EU hopes of an end to the crisis. [Agencies]

Gazprom accused Ukraine of blocking the gas, while Ukraine countered that the Russian energy giant had deliberately routed the gas in a way that made it impossible for Ukraine to pump it on to European consumers.

The European Union, which has sent its own experts to the region, expressed "disappointment" that Russian gas flow to Europe through Ukraine was still on hold.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Russia was trying to destabilise his country as energy officials explained they would have to cut internal gas supplies to four regions in order to allow the Russian gas to transit.

The breakdown again infuriated the European Union as hundreds of thousands of people shivered in the depths of winter without gas-fired central heating and factories and schools remained closed for a second week in several countries.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose countries have been badly hit by the gas crisis, were expected in Moscow on Wednesday for emergency talks on the gas crisis.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso expressed the "EU's disappointment" in a phone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after the EU reported "little or no gas" reaching Europe from Russia.

"Ukraine has blocked all our actions in respect of renewal of the transit of natural gas, which is unbelievable," Gazprom's deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev told journalists shortly after Russia announced supply had resumed.

According to Gazprom, foreign observers monitoring the gas flow also confirmed Ukraine's blocking the transit.

"The international monitoring commission's observers in Kiev signed a report which testifies to no pumping of Russian gas through Ukraine's transit pipelines to Europe, while the pressure in the pipeline at the border with Ukraine is 70 atmosphere," Gazprom said in a statement.

But a spokesman for Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz said the transit route chosen by Gazprom "would have required us to stop supplying gas to eastern part of Ukraine," adding that Gazprom turned down an alternative route.

Ukraine also appealed to Europe to mediate in its dispute with Russia.

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