Pleas but No Progress in European Gas Crisis

Russia stopped selling gas to Ukraine on Jan. 1 because of a price dispute, then accused Ukraine of stealing Europe-bound gas and tuned off the taps entirely on Jan. 7.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks during a visit to gas monopoly Gazprom's main control...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks during a visit to gas monopoly Gazprom's main control room in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009. Russia and Ukraine hotly blamed each other Tuesday as Russia restarted natural gas supplies but little or no gas flowed toward Europe. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

(AP)

EU countries had hoped supplies would be restored Tuesday after they brokered a deal sending monitors to keep tabs on the flow of gas. But while Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom resumed some gas supplies, Ukraine did not send the gas on to Europe, saying the route that Gazprom demanded would force Ukraine to halt domestic gas supplies to a large swath of territory.

The same thing happened again Wednesday, said Oleh Dubina, the head of Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz.

"Unfortunately, we answered the same way: we cannot leave our regions without gas," Dubina said.

Putin said it was up to Ukraine to make the deliveries possible.

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"We opened the tap, and are ready to supply gas, but on the other side, the tap is closed," Putin told the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Slovakia and Moldova in a meeting at his residence outside Moscow. "Nobody, no transit country, has the right to abuse its transit location to take other customers hostage."

"Millions of Europeans feel like hostages and are truly suffering," said Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico added that "Ukraine is losing the trust of European partners because of its behavior."

Yushchenko in turn claimed that Russia was trying to drive Ukraine's already-struggling economy into penury by charging unfairly high prices, a strategy he claimed aimed to eventually take control of Ukraine's pipeline network.

Ukraine also claims that Russia has not sent enough so-called "technical gas" to pump the rest of the gas west to Europe. Who should pay for the technical gas is also in dispute.

Russian officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, are suggesting that Ukraine could use gas from its own reserves to supply Europe, with the promise that Russia would replenish the stocks. But with mistrust high between Kiev and Moscow, and Russia claiming Ukraine still owes gas debts, Ukraine appeared unlikely to take the idea seriously.