Poland holds talks with Ukraine, Lithuania amid gas row

Poland holds talks with Ukraine, Lithuania amid gas row 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.

"The problem isn't that Ukraine does not want to deliver gas," Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said. "The problem is there's not an adequate amount of gas," delivered from the Russian side.

Yushchenko said Ukraine has paid Russia and hasn't stolen "even a square metre" of the delivered supplies.

"If our Russian partners have any charges in this matter, if they have any kind of proof, let them take it to an arbitration court," Yushchenko said.

Kaczynski has been strongly pro-Ukraine and accused the European Union of being "exceedingly soft" towards Russia in the conflict.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with his Lithuanian counterpart, Andrius Kubilius, about an energy bridge that would link Lithuania with Poland, and therefore the West. Lithuania is currently reliant on Moscow for its electricity.

The agenda included building a new nuclear plant at Ignalina to replace a Soviet-era facility that Lithuania agreed to shut down when it joined the European Union.

"Poland is determined that this project is successful," Tusk said of the project co-financed by Poland, Estonia and Latvia. "But a successful project is a power plant in Ignalina that produces so much electricity that part of it would be Poland's."

Tusk said the project would pay off if Poland receives a third of the 3,000 megawatts the plant would produce. He said Warsaw would invest some 800 million euros (1.05 billion dollars) into the plant, but needs Lithuania's guarantee that the electricity would also flow to Poland.

Russia cut gas deliveries to Ukraine on January 1, accusing Ukraine of stealing supplies intended for Europe. The cuts caused gas shortages in Europe as temperatures dipped below zero.

The gas crisis has left Poland unscathed, thanks to the country's gas reserves and delivery of supplies via its border with Belarus. dpa

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