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MOSCOW: European Union (EU) leaders kept up pressure Wednesday on
Russia and Ukraine to resolve their gas dispute after an attempt to
resume transit supply failed to deliver gas to European consumers.
As hundreds of thousands of Europeans begin a
second week with little or no heat in their homes, offices or
schools, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and Slovakian
Prime Minister Robert Fico were due in Moscow to meet with their
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the gas crisis.
Both countries are among those to have been
badly hit by the gas crisis, which has continued despite EU efforts
to broker a solution.
Fico was in Kiev earlier Wednesday for talks
with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who declared that Ukraine is
ready to immediately send gas on to Europe if it receives delivery
from Russia.
“If gas is delivered today, it will be
immediately sent” to Europe, Tymoshenko said.
But the gas row has been an endless series of
charges between Moscow and Kiev over who is responsible for
hindering the flow to Europe.
On Wednesday Russian gas giant Gazprom accused
Ukraine of refusing to transit the natural gas to several European
countries, while Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz fired
back that Russia was making the transit “impossible” by its
choice of pipeline routes.
Russia had resumed natural gas supplies on
Tuesday after international experts were placed along the pipeline
route through Ukraine under an agreement reached with the EU, only
to shut off them off again several hours later.
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso
expressed the “EU’s disappointment” in a phone conversation
with Russian Prime Minister Putin after the EU reported “little or
no gas” reaching Europe from Russia.
Barroso sounded tougher on Wednesday saying
European companies should take legal action if the flow of Russian
gas to Europe is not urgently resumed.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko accused
Russia of trying to destabilize his country as energy officials
explained they would have to cut domestic gas supplies in order to
get Russian gas to Europe.
“This attack against Ukraine has the goal of
provoking a revolt in the eastern regions,” a heavily
industrialized and pro-Russian part of the country that relies to a
large degree on Russian gas supplies, said Yushchenko.
In Brussels, EU commission spokesman for energy
issues Ferran Tarradellas said the international monitors had been
allowed into the control rooms where the gas flow monitoring screens
are located.
“The Russians sent a small quantity of gas
this morning at a single point, then the pressure fell and there was
nothing after that,” he said.
“Not a single molecule of gas has arrived at
other entry points, according to our inspectors,” he said.
Russia said it would initially pump only
“test” amounts of gas Tuesday, which would however have been
enough to restore full supplies to Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia,
Moldova, Romania and Turkey.
Russia initially cut off supplies for Ukraine on
New Year’s Day after a dispute over late payments and a failure to
agree on a price for 2009, but last week shut off all supplies after
accusing Kiev of siphoning off gas transiting the country to Europe.
Ukraine has hotly contested accusations it has
stolen gas, and the EU-brokered monitor deal was meant to overcome
this issue.
The Russian daily Kommersant meanwhile said
Moscow had won some support in Europe.
“Russia managed to secure two official
allies,” Italy and Romania, the paper said.
“The group of Russia’s supporters may
increase” after the Slovak and Bulgarian prime minister meet
Putin, it added.
-- AFP
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