Brussels/Strasbourg, France - The European Union on Wednesday threatened to ditch Russia and Ukraine as gas suppliers and to encourage legal action against their state-owned energy companies unless they immediately resume shipments to Europe.
"Russia and Ukraine are showing they are incapable of delivering on their commitments to some European member states," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Warsaw - Polish leaders met with their Ukrainian and Lithuanian counterparts Wednesday for talks centred on the fallout from an ongoing trade dispute between Russia and Ukraine.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski met with his Ukrainian counterpart for an update on the row, which has effectively cut off gas supplies from Russia that would normally flow through Ukraine.
Kiev - Ukraine's natural gas monopoly Naftogaz Ukrainy on Wednesday made Russia a detailed offer on Europe energy shipments, suggesting an immediate return to pre-crisis volumes.
Russia would, according to the terms of the proposal, send into Ukraine's national pipeline network 318 million cubic metres of gas daily, with 296 million cubic metres reaching European customers.
The difference, some 22 million cubic metres, would be used by Ukraine's pipeline system to maintain pressure.
Kiev- Ukraine's natural gas pipeline system needs an additional injection of fuel before deliveries to Europe can resume, a senior official in Kiev said Wednesday.
"We have asked for the assistance of the European Commission in resolving the problem of 'technical gas'," said Yury Prodan, Ukraine's Minister of Fuel and Energy.
"This is gas without which it is impossible to make transit shipments (to Europe)," he said.
London, Jan. 14 : Russia has been accused of trying to ''trick'' the European Union after gas supplies delivered through Ukraine were turned off again.
On Tuesday, Gazprom announced that normal service had been resumed of supplies to Ukraine. But within three hours EU officials announced that "little or no" gas was getting through.
Both Russia and Ukraine then blamed each other for a failure to reopen pipelines and the uneasy EU-brokered truce disintegrated as both sides traded accusations.
Sofia - Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev left Wednesday for a one-day trip to Moscow and Kiev and urgent talks about the Russian-Ukrainian gas row which has shoved much of the Balkans into a deep crisis.
In Moscow, Stanishev was due to meet both Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev and the management of the Russian Gazprom, his cabinet said in Sofia.
Stanishev would then fly to Kiev, for talks with Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko and Premier Yulia Timoshenko.
Brussels/Strasbourg, France - The European Union on Wednesday threatened to ditch Russia and Ukraine as gas suppliers and to encourage legal action against their state-owned energy companies unless they immediately resume shipments to Europe.
Warsaw - Polish leaders met with their Ukrainian and Lithuanian counterparts Wednesday for talks centred on the fallout from an ongoing trade dispute between Russia and Ukraine.
Kiev - Ukraine's natural gas monopoly Naftogaz Ukrainy on Wednesday made Russia a detailed offer on Europe energy shipments, suggesting an immediate return to pre-crisis volumes.
Kiev- Ukraine's natural gas pipeline system needs an additional injection of fuel before deliveries to Europe can resume, a senior official in Kiev said Wednesday.
London, Jan. 14 : Russia has been accused of trying to ''trick'' the European Union after gas supplies delivered through Ukraine were turned off again.
Sofia - Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev left Wednesday for a one-day trip to Moscow and Kiev and urgent talks about the Russian-Ukrainian gas row which has shoved much of the Balkans into a deep crisis.
