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.

By Tuesday evening the flow of gas into Hungary, which relies on imports to cover some 80 per cent of its natural gas needs, was down to a trickle.

The Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany wrote on Tuesday to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine saying his government finds it unacceptable that European consumers must pay the price for the ongoing dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas pricing.

He also wrote to the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barosso and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. The Czech Republic currently holds the revolving EU presidency.

Gyurcsany told the Hungarian news agency MTI that the matter was no longer simply a question of a trade dispute, but one of relations between the EU and its neighbours to the east.

He said he has called on EU leaders to get directly involved in the dispute between Russia and Ukraine rather than keeping their distance.

The Hungarian Prime Minister held a meeting on Tuesday with his chief foreign affairs advisor Karoly Banai and the minister responsible for energy matters, Csaba Molnar.

They formulated Hungary's official position on the ongoing energy crisis and drew up proposals for a combined European diplomatic offensive to try and bring about a compromise between Ukraine and Russia.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Göncz will present the document at an informal meeting of EU ministers in Prague on Thursday.

Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry Maria Fekszi told MTI that Hungary is proposing that Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Macedonia be invited to the meeting.

Hungary is contracted to forward about 10 million cubic metres of gas daily to Serbia and Bosnia, an obligation it will now have difficulty meeting.

The prime minister's proposals were also sent to the Hungarian embassies of all EU member states. The Hungarian government awaits a response from the individual countries by Wednesday, Fekszi said.

Precise details of the diplomatic offensive that Hungary is recommending will not be made public for a few days so as not to jeopardise ongoing talks, Fekszi added.

Ukraine is the transit country for 80 per cent of the gas that Russia exports to the EU. Russia cut the flow of gas on January 1 in a dispute with Ukraine over pricing.

On Monday, Ukraine reduced the flow of gas to Hungary from 38 to 30 million cubic metres per day.

The following day, as Austria felt the effects of Russia's cutting the flow of gas into Ukraine, imports from Hungary's western neighbour were cut in half to around 3 million cubic metres a day.

With central Europe in the middle of a winter freeze, Hungary is currently burning up around 70 million cubic metres of gas daily.

Hungary's stores of about 3.6 billion cubic metres of gas are, in theory enough to last 51 days at current rates of consumption, although only 51.5 million cubic metres can be accessed daily. (dpa)