Moscow/Kiev - Russia and Ukraine held talks over a solution to the escalating gas dispute shortly before the beginning of an EU crisis meeting in Brussels, media reports said Thursday.

The heads of Russian state-owned Gazprom, Alexei Miller, and Ukraine's Naftogaz Oleg Dubina met in Moscow, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He did not give any details about the talks.

Kiev and Moscow are locked in a dispute over gas prices, with Gazprom accusing Ukraine of siphoning off supplies to EU markets since Russia stopped its gas deliveries to its neighbouring country last week.

Moscow - Russia has rediscovered its image as a hungry bear as it blunders too far in the latest gas spat with Ukraine, forcing Europe from its benign disregard as temperatures plunge below zero.

The 2009 version of Russian export monopoly Gazprom's gas cuts is different from the 2006 standoff. Like so much else, it must be viewed through the prism of the global financial crisis and the critical blows this has dealt to the two warring parties.

Moscow/Kiev - Russia has halted all supplies of gas to Western European customers in an escalation of the energy dispute between Moscow and Ukraine, a spokesman for Ukrainian gas monopoly Naftogaz said on Thursday morning.

The Naftogaz statement, reported by the Interfax agency, came after Austrian Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner told local radio on Wednesday that his country had received no supplies from Russia via Ukraine overnight.

The sharp escalation in the energy war between Ukraine and Russia led to big cuts in gas supplies across Europe Tuesday amid freezing winter temperatures.

The second reduction since January 1 by Russian gas monopolist Gazprom saw shipments cut to just 72 million cubic meters of gas for European consumers, from 260 million on Monday and an average of 300 million previously.

Officials in both Russia and Ukraine confirmed plans to renew talks on ending the conflict in Moscow on Thursday. But the sides remained far apart on a host of issues.

Budapest  - At 3.30 p. m. on Tuesday, Ukraine completely shut off the flow of natural gas to its western neighbour Hungary, the minister for energy Csaba Molnar said after a crisis meeting.

From Wednesday morning, power stations than can will have to switch to alternative sources of energy, Molnar announced. He added that further restrictions on the industrial use of gas might still have to be made.

Vienna - Russia cut its supply of natural gas to Austria by 90 per cent Monday night, Austrian oil and gas supplier OMV AG said Tuesday.

The reduction came amid Ukraine's conflict with Russian state gas company Gazprom, which pipes its gas to Western Europe through the Ukraine.

OMV would be able to keep up its delivery to end customers by using its stock of 1.7 billion cubic metres, the company said.

"That way, the supply situation is secured," said Werner Auli, one of OMV's chief executives.

However, the amount of natural gas piped from Austria to Hungary fell on Tuesday, illustrating the effects of the spat between the Ukraine and Russia.