The European Union (EU) on Wednesday called for an immediate resumption of Russian gas supplies to the bloc, saying it was being held hostage to the Russia-Ukraine gas row.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso "urged the Ukrainian and Russian prime ministers to restore full gas supplies to the EU immediately," the commission said in a press release.
Barroso spoke with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko Wednesday morning after Russia shut off all gas supplies to the EU via Ukraine amid an escalation of the dispute with Kiev.
Barroso said it was unacceptable that the EU's gas supply security is being held hostage to negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, warning the two countries' reputation as reliable partners to the EU was at stake.
He urged "Ukraine and Russia to find a stable and long-term solution to guarantee reliable gas supplies to the EU."
Russian gas giant Gazprom and Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz are scheduled to resume negotiations Thursday to solve the pricing dispute, which triggered the gas row in the new year.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds EU's rotating presidency, said the EU will intervene if Russia and Ukraine fail to solve their dispute by Thursday.
"There is a political dimension to this problem," Topolanek said in the Czech capital of Prague. "Tomorrow is a key day. If supplies are not restored tomorrow, then we will have to see a strong EU intervention."
Around a quarter of the gas used in the EU -- more than 40 percent of the bloc's imports -- comes from Russia, and Ukraine sits on the main transit route for gas exports, accounting for 80 percent of the continent's gas supply from Russia.
In 2006, a dispute over gas prices between Kiev and Moscow sent jitters through European customers after Gazprom cut all supplies to Ukraine.
Source:Xinhua
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