Tonight:
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Russian gas crisis spreads to Greece and Bulgaria
Ed Harris05.01.09
EUROPEAN UNION officials met for crisis talks in Brussels today as the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine spilled over into Europe.
EU countries including Greece and Bulgaria today reported a drop in supplies after Russia cut off gas to Ukraine on New Year's Day over unpaid bills and a new price contract. Officials in Croatia, a candidate for European membership, also reported that supplies were dramatically down this morning.
Gas flows to Greece were slashed by a third, while Bulgaria suffered a 15 per cent drop in supply as the crisis threatened to spread farther across Europe. Poland, Hungary and Romania also said their supplies were hit.
Today's meeting will assess the impact of shortages as winter bites, and "to consider what any next steps", an EU official said.
Russian gas giant Gazprom accuses Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, of stealing gas meant for EU customers. Pipes across Ukraine carry about a fifth of the EU's gas needs.
The EU has despatched experts to Kiev on a fact-finding mission after Gazprom said it could no longer count on Ukraine as a transit route to EU countries. The Ukrainians say the pipeline network is not working properly after Moscow cut supplies.
None of the countries hit today reported consumers suffering supply cuts. Many EU countries, and Ukraine, have built up reserves since a similar dispute between Gazprom and Ukraine in 2006.
Washington has called on Russia to consider the humanitarian implications of disrupting gas supplies in winter to countries facing freezing conditions.
Reader views (1)
A new price on Russian gas for Ukraine is about $230 for thousand cubic meters. Nobody will say more precisely today. A word «about» is a new know-how of the Ukrainian government, that hides the unwillingness of Julia Volodimirivna to acknowledge that she handed us to Russia.
During the first four months we will pay $360 for gas. And that is exactly twice as high, than paid until now. And Timoshenko’s «about» means a kind of an average annual price. Such a convinient gap : nobody knows its size, so no one will notice, someone will grab a piece of pie from there.
- Alex, Ukraine
