Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia will ensure gas supplies to European customers despite an unsettled dispute with neighboring Ukraine over gas prices.

"The negotiations are proceeding primarily between the two countries' companies. But I'm convinced that the tradition, a very good tradition, that neither Gazprom (gas titan) nor Russia has ever disregarded its obligations to European consumers, will not be broken," Lavrov said in Moscow.

The Russian assurance came a day after the two countries failed to reach an agreement on gas prices during talks held here between their prime ministers.

Russia is a key gas supplier to the Ukraine and most of its gas exports to Europe pass through Ukrainian territory.

The Ukraine currently buys Russian gas at a discounted price of 50 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, but Russia has demanded an end to the preferential prices and offered cash payments for gas transit.

The two former Soviet republics have been negotiating intensively for much of this year to narrow differences on gas prices. But progress has been anything but quick.

Russia has threatened to cut gas supplies to the Ukraine if the two countries fail to strike a deal by Jan. 1, 2006.

Source: Xinhua