By Gennady Novik
SUDZHA, Russia (Reuters) - Russia started pumping gas destined for Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday for the first time in nearly a week, but the European Union said little or no gas was flowing to countries suffering urgent energy shortages.
Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, accused Ukraine of siphoning off the gas for its own use. Ukraine's state energy firm said it could not ship the gas without cutting off several of its own regions.
Technicians at Russia's Sudzha pumping station, near the border with Ukraine, opened the gas taps at 10 a.m (7 a.m. British time).
But no gas was heading for southeast Europe, which has borne the brunt of the gas cut-off with factory closures and heating shortages during bitter winter weather, Bulgaria's state gas monopoly said.
The European Commission said Europe needed the gas urgently and an aide to Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he expressed disappointment in a telephone call with Putin over the low volumes pumped by Russia.
An EU official in Brussels said there was only a small stream of gas coming in at Sudzha.
"Ukraine asked for nomination of a full 350 million cubic metres per day. Russia said they had to start slowly. They started with 1 million cubic metres per hour in Sudzha."
"That was supposed to be increased but the latest news I have is that is it going down again, or going towards zero," the official said, adding that the pipelines proposed by Moscow to deliver the gas were "not an easy route."
GAS ROWS
Relations between Russia and Ukraine deteriorated when Ukraine elected pro-Western leaders in 2004 and the two former Soviet neighbours have frequently argued over gas prices.
Moscow is still refusing to supply gas for Ukraine itself because of their contract dispute.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Barroso on Tuesday that Ukraine was blocking the exports to Europe.
"Russian transit gas, which was partially restarted, is not going through the Ukrainian pipeline system. It is closed," the government said in a statement.
Gazprom's Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said Ukraine's actions were being orchestrated by the United States. "It looks like ... they are dancing to the music which is being orchestrated not in Kiev but outside the country," he said.
Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz said there had not been enough coordination over the routes chosen for the gas and the volumes shipped to ensure the smooth transit across Ukraine.
Naftogaz head Oleh Dubyna said it was impossible for Ukraine to fulfil Gazprom's demands for transiting the gas and that several Ukrainian regions would have been left without supplies.
Europe depends on Russia for a quarter of its gas supplies and most of those volumes are shipped though Ukraine.
The disruption, in which factories shut because of a lack of fuel, has dented the reputation of both Moscow and Kiev as energy suppliers and prompted a search for new routes.
Russia cut off gas to Ukraine on January 1 after failing to reach agreement with Kiev on gas fees. A week later it halted transit flows too, saying Ukraine was stealing gas intended for Europe. Kiev accused Moscow of using energy blackmail.
The resumption followed an EU-brokered deal to deploy international monitors to strategic points along the pipeline route to reassure Russia that Ukraine was not taking any of the transit gas for itself.
Some 18 European countries suffered disruptions to their gas supplies.
Analysts say that Moscow has suffered damage to its standing in Europe, its most lucrative gas market and biggest trading partner. Western diplomats say Ukraine's reputation has suffered too, and the economic impact could be even worse.
Gazprom is demanding that Kiev hand over $614 million (421.4 million pounds) in unpaid gas bills and pay $450 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas in 2009 -- similar to rates paid by EU customers but a big rise on last year's price of $179.5.
Ukraine is likely to struggle to absorb those costs as its economy -- based on steel and chemical exports -- has been hit hard by the global slowdown and its hryvnia currency has experienced sharp falls.
(Additional reporting Christian Lowe in Moscow, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, David Brunnstrom in Brussels; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
