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Moscow, Kiev officials exchange accusations on closure of pipelines
By David Jolly
and Andrew E. Kramer
New York Times
Published on Thursday, Jan 08, 2009
PARIS: All gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine were shut down Wednesday as the pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine escalated. The European Union called for an immediate solution to the crisis.
The cutoff showed the first signs of hitting the European economy as the Hungarian unit of the Japanese automaker Suzuki said it was halting production because of restrictions on industrial users of gas. The Hungarian news agency MTI quoted a spokeswoman as saying Suzuki hoped to restart production Monday.
The Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz accused Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, of halting all shipments Wednesday morning. But in Berlin, Aleksandr Medvedev, Gazprom's deputy chief executive, told journalists that it was Naftogaz, the Ukrainian company, that had closed a fourth pipeline, ending all shipments to Europe.
''Unfortunately, the situation is continuing to deteriorate,'' Reuters quoted Medvedev as saying. ''Yesterday night, Ukraine completely shut down all export pipelines to Europe via Ukraine.''
Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, called Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko to urge that they quickly restore the flow of gas, a spokeswoman for the commission said in Brussels.
The spokeswoman said Barroso told the leaders that it was unacceptable that Europe be held hostage in their dispute. Barroso also suggested the European Union was willing to send observers to monitor the flow of gas to Europe, if requested.
The shutdown left Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Romania with no Russian gas supplies amid a bitter cold snap across much of the continent.
European Union countries have access to some other sources of gas — including Russian gas from other pipelines, and gas produced in Britain, Norway and the Netherlands — but the loss of the Ukrainian pipeline puts the European Union under pressure to push for a solution.
Czech Republic Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said Wednesday that if gas supplies to Europe were not restored within 24 hours, diplomatic protests would be escalated to the highest political level.
Topolanek, speaking to journalists in Prague, said supplies of gas from Ukraine to the Czech Republic had been cut to zero Wednesday.
He said it was ''obviously unacceptable that European member states should suffer'' as a consequence of the argument between Moscow and Kiev.
Although the Czech Republic is dependent on Russian gas, Topolanek said that it has reserves and had diversified supplies, importing from Norway. Gas stocks for the Czech Republic were in better shape than those of Hungary or Slovakia, he said.
PARIS: All gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine were shut down Wednesday as the pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine escalated. The European Union called for an immediate solution to the crisis.
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