BRUSSELS, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Thursday urged Russia and Belarus to resolve their disputes over gas supplies as quickly as possible.

    European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs called for an "urgent resolution" of the negotiations between the two sides over gas supplies for next year.

    "The (European) Commission is following the situation very closely since it may affect gas supplies to the European Union," said Piebalgs in a written statement.

    "I call the two parts to reach as soon as possible a satisfactory agreement that do not put in question gas transits to the EU," he said.

    The commissioner said he would call the EU's Gas Coordination Group (GCG) to meet on Jan. 4 in Brussels to evaluate the situation.

    The Gas Coordination Group, composed by representatives of EU member states and representative bodies of the industry concerned and of relevant consumers, deals with measures to safeguard security of natural gas supplies.

    The GCG was created after gas supply to Ukraine was cut off by Russia because of a dispute regarding prices.

    Russia is now locked in a similar dispute with Belarus. The Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom has warned Belarus that it might cut off gas supply from New Year's Day unless Belarus pays more.

    Such action could jeopardize deliveries of Russian gas across Belarus to Gazprom clients in the EU, and trigger a repeat of last year's gas supply panic in Europe.

    It was reported that Gazprom wants Belarus to pay more than twice the current price for gas and hand over a 50 percent stake in its gas distribution system.