MOSCOW, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia will not apply a
protocol on gas transit to its clients in the European Union until Ukraine
retrieves its additional conditions in the contract, President Dmitry Medvedev
said on Sunday.
"Such reservations and additions are nothing but
mockery of common sense and violation of earlier agreements. In fact, they aim
to thwart gas transit control," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Medvedev as saying
during a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev
speaks during a meeting at Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, January 8,
2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Russia and
the EU, in a step toward resuming Russian gas supplies to Europe, on Saturday
signed a protocol to set up an international commission to monitor Russian gas
transit via Ukraine.
Russia supplies about one-quarter of the EU's natural
gas, and some 80 percent of it is transported through Ukraine. However, it cut
off gas supplies to Ukraine on Jan. 1 after the two sides failed to reach a new
deal for 2009 and debt repayments.
All Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine were
shut down last Wednesday as the gas row escalated, creating supply crisis for a
number of EU countries, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe.
The EU has urged Russia to resume pumping gas to the
27-nation bloc via Ukraine immediately after a monitoring deal was finally
clinched.
BRUSSELS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU)
demanded on Sunday that Russian gas flow to the 27-nation bloc via Ukraine be
immediately resumed after a monitoring deal was finally clinched.
"We now need the gas to flow immediately to the EU,"
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement after
Ukraine, Russia and the EU struck an agreement Sunday to set up an international
commission to monitor Russian gas transit via Ukraine. Full story
