Ukraine rejects Russia's latest gas request

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By YURAS KARMANAU – 10 minutes ago

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine rejected Russia's latest request Thursday to pipe natural gas west to increasingly frustrated EU consumers, deepening the bitter economic and political dispute that has paralyzed energy shipments to Europe.

Desperate to restore supplies, the European Union said it was ready to join a weekend meeting between Russia and Ukraine to seek a solution to the crisis that has left eastern Europe frantically scrambling for heat, light and power.

With the cutoff of Russian gas supplies via Ukraine in its ninth day, neither country showed signs of backing down or concern about leaving parts of Europe freezing.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Ukraine has enough gas reserves to last a year — far more than previously reported.

"This gives us the opportunity to hold negotiations in a completely calm way," she said.

Vladimir Putin, her Russian counterpart, reiterated his demand that Ukraine deliver Russian gas to Europe, according to his spokesman.

Still, the two agreed to meet Saturday in Moscow on the crisis, officials said.

Europe depends on Russia for about a quarter of its gas, with 80 percent of it delivered via Ukrainian pipelines. Russia stopped selling gas to Ukraine on Jan. 1 because of a price dispute, then accused Ukraine of stealing Europe-bound gas and turned off the taps entirely on Jan. 7.

A hard-won deal to deploy EU monitors at key gas junctions raised hopes for a renewal of supplies Tuesday, but they were quickly dashed amid mutual recriminations between Russia and Ukraine.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been badly strained since the 2004 Orange Revolution propelled pro-Western leaders to power in Kiev.

For the third day in a row, Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom opened a tap near the border Thursday and asked Ukraine to send a limited amount of gas on to Europe. Ukraine's state-run gas company Naftogaz refused, saying the route Gazprom demanded would force Ukraine to shut off energy supplies to millions of Ukrainian consumers first. Ukraine also said Russia must supply "technical gas" to prime the pumps.

"Technically we cannot deliver gas to that destination," Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky said Thursday. He confirmed that Gazprom had asked Ukraine to send just under 100 million cubic meters of gas to Europe.

Russia insists the requested route is fine.

EU officials have warned Ukraine's leaders — who want their country to join the EU and NATO — that the crisis is raising questions about the country's reliability. But they have also criticized Russia, asking why it wasn't sending the normal daily volume of gas to Europe, about 300 million cubic meters.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was sending invitations Thursday inviting the leaders of European gas-consuming nations to come to Moscow for a Saturday gas summit, but it was unclear whether Putin's talks with Tymoshenko would be part of that meeting.

EU spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said the EU was ready to send Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Czech Energy Minister Martin Riman — whose country currently holds the EU presidency — to the talks, provided that both the Russian and Ukrainian leadership were fully involved.

However, Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, Tymoshenko's bitter rival, has indicated he would not attend a summit held in Moscow.

Medvedev and Yushchenko spoke by telephone Thursday, the Kremlin said. Medvedev proposed that Russia transfer to Ukraine the so-called "technical gas" that is used to push transit gas through the pipelines. But it was not clear from the Kremlin statement how that gas would be paid for or whether it would solve the routing problem that Ukraine says is blocking deliveries to Europe.

Laitenberger said the talks Saturday should not be an excuse to further delay the gas flow.

"All of this has gone on too long," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would call Ukraine on Thursday and press Putin on Friday when she meets him in Berlin.

"It is absolutely essential for us to see both Russia and Ukraine sit down at the negotiating table and resolve their issues," she said.

The crisis has left several European nations with little or no gas for heating and electricity.

Associated Press Writers Maria Danilova in Kiev, Ukraine; Steve Gutterman and Jim Heintz in Moscow and Aoife White in Brussels contributed to this report.