Gloomy EU frets over gas supply resumption
MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - European states saw little prospect of renewed gas supplies from Russia on Thursday, with Moscow and Kiev bickering over the venue of a summit called to help resolve the stand-off.
An EU-brokered deal was supposed to get supplies moving on Tuesday, with international monitors in place to ensure that Ukraine was not siphoning off any gas, as Moscow has alleged.
But it has failed to break the deadlock and the row continues to disrupt supplies to 18 countries, forcing factories to shut down and leaving householders shivering in a bitter winter.
After high-level talks in Moscow and Kiev, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico expressed growing frustration within the EU at the failure of Russia and its former Soviet vassal Ukraine to resolve their differences over debts and pricing.
"I cannot imagine what would have to happen within 24 hours, or 48 hours, for the gas transit to resume," Fico said on his return from Moscow, where he and Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev met Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"It is practically impossible. The conditions laid by one and the other side are so contrasting, that this simply cannot work," he told a news conference.
The European Union imports a fifth of its gas from Russia via Ukraine and the dragging crisis has highlighted its vulnerability to disruption and sparked renewed debate about diversifying supplies.
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso called the crisis "unacceptable and incredible" and said the EU executive would advise the bloc's firms to sue Russian and Ukrainian energy companies unless gas supplies were restored quickly.
A Kremlin-organised gas users' summit called for Saturday hit an immediate roadblock with Ukrainian leaders saying they would not attend if Moscow were the venue.
GAS HOSTAGE
Slovakia's Fico said his country would attend the meeting if Ukraine were present and if the EU were involved in the talks.
"The talks in Kiev and Moscow showed that the dispute between Ukraine and Russian Federation is very deep, is political in principle, and it seem not even the European Union is able to immediately resolve it," he said.
Brussels is concerned the summit could be a Russian attempt to divide the bloc, which has so far been relatively unified in its line in the dispute.
Russia resumed pumping gas meant for Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday but the EU said little or none was flowing yet to countries downstream suffering urgent energy shortages.
Russia accused Ukraine of deliberately cutting gas to Europe while Kiev said Russia had so far provided so little gas there was not enough pressure in the pipelines to pump it on.
Frustrated EU leaders told Moscow and Kiev their credibility as reliable energy partners was now at stake, and Bulgaria's Stanishev told Putin the long-running dispute "should not turn third countries into hostages."
Fico delivered a similar message in Kiev to his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko, who replied that Ukraine was just as much a hostage as the European Union.
Putin urged EU leaders to increase pressure on Ukraine, whose pro-Western leadership has angered Moscow by seeking to join the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
Russia's state-owned gas export monopoly Gazprom demands Kiev pay $614 million (£421 million) in unpaid gas bills and $450 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas in 2009. That is similar to rates paid by EU customers but a big rise on last year's price of $179.5.
(Additional reporting by Jan Lopatka and Wojciech Zurawski; Writing by Jon Boyle; Editing by Richard Balmforth)