Sunday January 11, 07:35 PM
Russia says Europe gas supply deal delayed
By Dario Thuburn
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Sunday said a deal to resume gas supplies to the European Union through pipelines in Ukraine had been delayed as swathes of central Europe and the Balkans remained without heating.
Hundreds of thousands of people were left without heating this week after Russia cut off supplies to Europe through Ukraine, saying it was forced to do so because Kiev was blocking transit of the gas -- a charge denied by Ukraine.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said energy giant Gazprom would only resume supplies once Russia had a copy of an EU-brokered weekend accord signed by Ukraine, and once various teams of international observers were in place.
"We will resume transit only under these two conditions," Medvedev said at a meeting broadcast on state television.
But a stern EU statement later Sunday said there was "no reason" to further delay gas supplies. It said the documentation was given to all involved after the deal to deploy independent monitors to verify the flow of Russian gas to European customers via pipelines running through Ukraine.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the gas conflict had cost Gazprom about 800 million dollars (600 million euros) in lost revenue.
"Europe has to give out a clear and comprehensible signal: not to say to Russia that she must sell her merchandise at discounted rates, but to Ukraine -- so that (Kiev) behaves in a normal and civilised way," Russian news agencies cited Putin as saying in an interview with German television.
Gazprom also said Ukraine was delaying a resolution.
"We have still not received through official channels a copy of the monitoring agreement for Russian gas through Ukraine signed by all sides. This is delaying our work," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on television.
Bogdan Sokolovsky, an energy aide to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, dismissed Russia's claim that it had not yet received the signed transit monitoring document as "lies," adding: "There's something wrong here."
But the EU statement issued later said: "The Commission considers that all conditions expressed by the two parties (Russia and Ukraine) have been met and there is no reason to delay the restoration of gas supplies any further."
"The parties that signed yesterday the terms of reference of this monitoring mission have all received signed copies of the agreement."
The first two international observers -- from France's GDF Suez (Paris: FR0010208488 - news) and Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas -- arrived at the Sudzha gas measuring station in southwest Russia on the border with Ukraine.
"The purpose is to establish this monitoring process. But it's not a matter of a few hours," said the representative of E.ON Ruhrgas, who declined to be named, as he travelled from the Ukrianian capital Kiev to Sudzha.
The text of the accord signed Sunday calls for the EU, Russia and Ukraine to each provide 25 experts to "carry out checks on the basis of equal parity both on Ukrainian and Russian territory," the Ukrainian presidency said.
In Brussels, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the deal brokered by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, holder of the EU presidency, in Moscow and Kiev and called for supplies to be resumed quickly.
"This should now finally allow the resumption of gas supplies from Russia to the EU... There are many EU citizens at risk without gas supply and this situation has gone on for far too long," Barroso said.
The gas crisis has taken a heavy toll on around a dozen states, notably in central Europe and the Balkans, which are highly dependent on Russian gas supplies, forcing factories, schools and public facilities to close.
Europe depends on Russian supplies pumped through Ukraine for around a fifth of its total consumption. Some Russian gas is also pumped through Belarus and Turkey is connected to the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia.
Demonstrating the far-reaching effects of the crisis, Budapest on Sunday announced traffic restrictions to reduce pollution levels prompted by major industries having to switch to oil consumption as a result of gas shortages.
And while Croatia's national distributor said it had received extra gas supplies from Italy, Slovakia reopened a nuclear power plant it was forced to shut down as part of its bid to join the European Union, prompting condemnation from neighbouring Austria, which described the reactor at Bohunice as "unsafe."
Russia cut supplies to Ukraine on January 1 after talks to resolve Ukraine's debt for previous deliveries, including a half a billion dollar fine, broke down.
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