BUCHAREST, Jan. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Moldova and Ukraine, both suffering from gas shortfalls after Russia recently cut off supplies, jointly appealed to the European Union (EU) on Tuesday to help settle the gas standoff, Moldovan information agency reported on Tuesday.

    Moldova and Ukraine believe Russia is using gas price leverage to pressure them, cause social unrest, and destroy their economies, said a statement signed by the Moldovan President Vladimir Voroninand his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko, the agency said.

    The statement said that the two countries hoped the EU would persuade Russia to resume the talks in order to set realistic gas prices and help broker Russia's payments for the use of their gas pipelines. The talks would also help secure a stable supply of Russian gas to consumers in Europe, it added.

    On Sunday, Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine and Moldova, both of which greatly rely on Russia's gas exports, as a consequence of the price disputes.

    Moldova had opposed Russia's decision to raise the gas price per 1,000 cubic meters from 68 dollars to 160 U.S. dollars. In turn, Ukraine had strongly rejected Russia's planned raising of the price of gas exported there from 50 dollars per 1000 cubic meters to 230 dollars.

    The latest reports indicate that officials from Ukraine and Moldova have held talks with Gazprom, Russia's state-owned oil andgas giant. The Gazprom spokesman, Sergei Kupriyanov, stated that the results of the talks would be made public at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT) Wednesday, said the RIA-Novosti news agency. Enditem