Russian and Ukrainian leaders to meet on gas

THE PRIME ministers of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to meet tomorrow to discuss their gas dispute, as top international officials warn Moscow that its reputation as a reliable energy supplier is in grave danger.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will host Yulia Tymoshenko in Moscow, amid European Union demands for an end to a crisis that has left hundreds of thousands of Balkan homes without gas heating and forced industry across eastern Europe to scale back production.

Senior EU energy officials are also expected to attend the Moscow meeting, after a cool response across the continent to the Kremlin’s suggestion of a weekend summit involving heads of state of European gas-consuming nations and transit countries.

Moscow and Kiev continued to blame each other for the crisis yesterday, with Russian energy giant Gazprom accusing Ukraine of closing its export pipelines.

Kiev claimed that Moscow had sent gas with too little pressure down a route that would have led to many domestic customers being cut off. The neighbours also disagree about who should pay for the “technical gas” that powers pumping stations along the pipelines.

“Ukraine is ready to transit Russian gas to European consumers, even without a contract, if the total volume is provided,” Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko said in a telephone conversation with German chancellor Angela Merkel. Dr Merkel said she would discuss the matter with Mr Putin during his visit to Germany today, and warned of “a danger that Russia will also lose part of its credibility because of these interruptions of supplies . . . It is absolutely essential for us to see both Russia and Ukraine sit down at the negotiating table and resolve their issues,” she added.

European leaders believed they had broken the impasse when Moscow and Kiev agreed last weekend to resume gas transit to the EU once international monitors were in place to ensure its smooth passage to the bloc. Gazprom stopped pumping within hours of the resumption, however, and blamed Ukraine for blocking exports. The EU relies on Russia for one-quarter of its gas, and 80 per cent of that fuel arrives in member states via Ukraine.