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Ukraine: Russia Gas Talks to Resume

The Associated Press

By Maria Danilova

KIEV, Ukraine -- The head of Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz says talks on resolving the gas dispute with Russia will resume Thursday.

Oleh Dubina announced Tuesday that he will travel to Moscow.

There has been no immediate comment from Russia's Gazprom gas company.

The announcement follows news that six countries have reported a complete shutoff of Russian gas shipped via Ukraine on Tuesday, in a sharp escalation of a struggle over energy that threatens Europe as winter sets in.

Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments from Russia through Ukraine. Croatia said it was temporarily reducing supplies to industrial customers and Bulgaria said it had enough gas for only "for a few days."

The European Union in Brussels called the sudden cutoff to some of its member countries "completely unacceptable."

In a strongly worded statement, the EU complained that the gas had been cut "without prior warning and in clear contradiction with the reassurances given by the highest Russian and Ukrainian authorities to the European Union."

Up to Monday, the EU has said that the dispute would not affect end consumers in the coming weeks. The sudden drop over the past day however, increased the diplomatic pressure to find a solution.

Ukraine and Russia are locked in a dispute over pricing and overdue payments, and Russia cut Ukraine off on Jan. 1 but had promised to keep gas moving to Europe.

Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz said Russia's gas giant Gazprom had sharply reduced its shipments to Europe through pipelines crossing Ukraine, triggering the cuts.