Brussels - The current row over gas supplies between Russia and Ukraine risks "discrediting" both countries as reliable energy partners, European Union diplomats meeting in Brussels said Monday.
At the emergency meeting of EU national representatives, "more and more countries" said that "Russia and Ukraine are discrediting themselves as reliable energy sources," an EU diplomat close to the talks told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Moscow - Russia on Monday said it will further cut gas to Ukraine by 65 million cubic metres per day, the amount Moscow says Kiev is stealing from European clients further downstream.
Gazprom cheif executive Alexei Miller proposed the measure while briefing Prime Minsiter Vladimir Putin on the standoff since the company shut off supplies to Ukraine on Janurary 1 over non-payments and a pricing dispute.
"Good, I agree. Let's begin the cuts from today," Putin was reported to have responded.
Moscow/Kiev/Prague - Russian natural gas deliveries fell in downstream markets on Saturday, drawing a sharp European Union demand that the Kremlin and Ukraine end a row over energy.
The volumes of Russian natural gas pumped via Ukrainian pipelines to Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia were all were reportedly down, with Romania registering a 33 per cent cut in deliveries.