BRUSSELS, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) called for more efforts to resolve the dispute between Russia and Ukraine after the Russian energy giant Gazprom reduced further its gas supplies to Kiev.

    "The European Union considers that in the past, Gazprom has demonstrated its commitment to be a reliable supplier of gas to the European Union, as has Ukraine (who has) played a similar role as a transit partner of the EU," said EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in a statement.

    Piebalgs convened a meeting of the EU's Gas Coordination Group after Gazprom made its first 25 percent supply cut to Ukraine Monday.

    Gazprom says supplies to the EU will be unaffected. "To date, no member state has reported any reduction in supplies," the EU said in a press release.

    A second deadline set by Gazprom for the settlement of the debt dispute expired at 8 p.m. Moscow time (1700 GMT) Tuesday. On its passing, the Russian gas monopoly cut the gas supply to Ukraine by a further 25 percent, pressing Kiev to pay off the allegedly 600 million U.S. dollars debt.

    "The EU places enormous importance on this, and looks to the parties to make every effort to find a rapid and durable solution to their disagreement," the EU energy commissioner said.

    "In addition, we look to both parties to ensure that gas supplies to the EU remain unaffected," he said.

    Russia, the single largest mineral energy supplier to the EU, provides 30 percent of the EU's oil imports and about 44 percent of its gas imports.