Gas Supplies Drop, EU Plays Down Dispute

Ukraine and Russia blame each other, and no talks are scheduled.

Ukraine has enough supplies to last for weeks. But it says that a continuing cutoff will lead to major delivery disruptions in Europe in less than two weeks.

Gazprom toughened its negotiating stance Sunday, saying it wants to charge Ukraine as much as $450 per 1,000 cubic meters in January, up from its offer before the cutoff of $250, which Kiev turned down. Kiev says that any price hike should be accompanied by a similar increase in the transit fee that Ukraine charges.

The Ukrainian president's energy adviser Bohdan Sokolovsky dismissed the offer of $450 as unacceptable.

"It once again proves that the Russian side has no economic calculations about how the price should be formed," he said in a telephone interview, adding that Moscow was applying political pressure.

Ukraine attempted to crank up pressure on Russia on Monday, saying that Naftogaz may be prohibited from transporting Russian gas at a low transit fee.

Kiev's Economic Court has ruled to temporarily invalidate a transit contract with Russia on the grounds that the official who signed it in 2006 was not authorized to do so, said Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky. Court officials were unavailable for comment due to public holidays.

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Associated Press Writer Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.