Ukraine: Russia stops sending gas to Europe

By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press Writer

KIEV, Ukraine – Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russia had cut off all gas supplies through pipelines crossing Ukrainian territory, the latest move in a devastating pricing dispute between the two neighbors that has already left a number of countries without gas.

Valentyn Zemlyansky, spokesman for state gas company Naftogaz, said Russia's gas giant Gazprom completely stopped sending gas to European consumers at 7:44 a.m. (0544 GMT). Eighty percent of Russian gas is shipped via Ukraine.

"Words fail us," Zemlyansky said of Gazprom's move.

Russia confirmed the cutoff but said it was Ukraine's fault because it had shut down the last pipeline carrying gas from Russia.

The Russia-Ukraine natural gas dispute has hit Europe with the force of a winter storm. It has affected at least a dozen nations. Tens of thousands of people were left without heat and governments scrambled to find alternative energy sources.

Before Wednesday, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Turkey had all reported a halt in gas shipments, while France, Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary had reported substantial drops in supplies from Russia.

Russia says it has limited supplies to Europe because Ukraine was stealing the gas. Ukraine blames Russia for the shortfalls. Russia stopped all gas shipments to Ukraine on Jan. 1 after the two countries failed to agree on prices and transit fees for next year.

Ukraine has continued shipping Russian gas to Europe, but acknowledged diverting some gas used to pump the fuel, saying it was Gazprom's duty to supply it. Gazprom started dramatically reducing supplies to European consumers this week.

The cut-off comes after Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz agreed to resume face-to-face talks and the head of Naftogaz said he would fly to Moscow on Thursday.

The cut-off also takes place on Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in Russia, Ukraine and a number of other Orthodox Christian countries in Europe.