Russian energy giant Gazprom says a deal to re-start gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine will be delayed as it has not received a copy of the agreement.
Kiev and Moscow signed the EU-brokered deal on Saturday. The new snag comes as EU observers arrived at gas pumping stations in Ukraine to monitor flow.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Europe are without heating in the region's worst energy crisis in years.
The underlying issue over pricing that provoked the dispute is unresolved.
The weekend agreement followed days of intensive EU-led shuttle diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow said that once the EU monitors were in place, it would turn the taps back on, bringing the crisis to an end.
However, by late on Sunday, Gazprom said it had still not received a copy of the monitoring agreement "through official channels".
"This is delaying our work and the start of monitors' work at the facilities," said Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov.
Once gas starts to flow, it will still take at least 36 hours for it to reach hundreds of thousands of consumers in countries like Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, in the grip of severe winter weather.
The EU gets a quarter of its gas supplies from Russia, 80% of which passes through Ukraine.
The EU observers will be monitoring the amount of gas flowing into Ukraine from Russia to the east, and matching it with the amount going out again, to other European countries to the west.
That, all sides agree, should provide an answer to the hotly contested question of whether or not Ukraine was stealing gas destined for European consumers, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Kiev.
The price Ukraine should pay Russia for its gas in the coming year, and how much Russia should pay Ukraine in return for transporting gas to Europe has yet to be agreed.
Russia cut supplies to the Ukraine on New Year's Day.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has vowed to "try to continue negotiations with Russia through all possible channels" on a new gas contract.
No comments:
Post a Comment