Russia shuts off gas to Ukraine

Russia has cut off gas to its neighbour Ukraine over a contract dispute but has increased supplies to customers in the rest of Europe. European Union states, which receive a fifth of their gas from pipelines crossing Ukraine, want to avoid a repeat of a January 2006 row when Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine causing a brief fall in gas supplies to other parts of Europe. Moscow and Kiev say they will honour their contracts to supply gas to European customers, who analysts say have enough reserves to manage without Russian supplies for days, not weeks. An official at Gazprom's headquarters in Moscow said: "We have fully cut off supplies to Ukraine as of 10:00 am today." Another spokesman said the Russian gas export monopoly had stepped up volumes for European consumers beyond Ukraine. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said: "Deliveries for export have been increased to 326 million cubic metres per day." Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz said it had already seen a reduction of pressure in its pipelines, and will now automatically pump gas from its reserves.

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ITN | January 1, 2009

Tags:. .gazproms. .cubic. .sergei. .monopoly. .pipelines