Russia has accused Ukraine of stealing gas amid growing fears that Britain and the rest of Europe could be left in the cold.
Coming a day after Moscow cut off all gas supplies to its neighbour, the latest blow in the bitter stand-off between the ex-Soviet countries further raised the possibility of price hikes and shortages in the UK.
Russia’s monopoly Gazprom claimed Ukraine was siphoning off gas meant for other European countries.
The accusation suggested the Kremlin was in no mood for a compromise, in a re-run of the 2006 dispute that led to supply shortages across the EU.
Last night, Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz insisted it was not interfering with Russian gas transported through its pipelines, saying it was only diverting a small amount to maintain pressure.
But Russia refused to back down and said it was increasing exports via alternative routes, including Belarus.
‘The Ukrainian side openly admits it is stealing gas and is not ashamed of this,’ said Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov.
Britain has not yet felt any disruption to supplies since Russia’s breakdown in price talks with Ukraine led to the cut-off on Thursday.
But every day the row goes on, it raises the spectre of shortages in Britain, which began the new year shivering in sub-zero temperatures
Blaming Gordon Brown for leaving the country vulnerable to brinkmanship and power plays by foreign governments, the Conservatives have warned that the UK has only enough gas in storage to keep the country running for 15 days.
In comparison, France could last 122 days, they said.
Tory energy spokesman Greg Clark said: ' As a result of ten years of government inaction, Britain is one of the most vulnerable countries in Europe to turbulence in gas supply.'
Russia supplies around a quarter of all the gas used in Europe and about 90% of it usually flows through pipelines across Ukraine.
Although Russia maintains the cut-off will not disrupt shipments to Europe, energy experts have warned that any pipeline problems in Ukraine could have the same serious knock-on effects that hit gas supplies two years ago.
Since then, many European governments have been reducing their dependence on Russian gas.
But Britain’s reliance has quadrupled, with Gazprom providing 16% of our gas in 2007.
The EU is refusing to step in unless supplies start to suffer and has restricted its involvement to a strongly worded warning to the warring neighbours not to jeopardise supplies to European customers.
The row, however, raises new doubts about Moscow's reliability as an energy supplier and fuels suspicion in the West - already running high since Russia's war with Georgia last August - that the Kremlin bullies its pro-Western neighbours.
Russia denies politics are behind the dispute and says it is about prices and debts, but Moscow and Kiev have clashed over a drive by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to take his country into the NATO alliance.
If talks do resume between Naftogaz and Gazprom, the gulf between their negotiating positions is wide.
Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, said he wanted Ukraine to pay $418 per 1,000 cubic metres (tcm) of gas, compared with the $179.5 Kiev paid in 2008. Ukraine says the most it can afford to pay is $235.
Gazprom charges about $500/tcm to customers in the EU, though that is likely to fall by up to half this year. Gas prices track oil and crude has plummeted in value.
Naftogaz said it guaranteed uninterrupted supplies of Russian gas to Europe and that it was drawing the fuel from underground stockpiles to meet its own needs.
Temperatures in Kiev yesterday were about 8 degrees Celsius below zero. (source)
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