A pipeline is seen at a gas compressor station in Sudzha in Russia's Kursk region January 11, 2009. International monitors arrived on Sunday at a gas compressor station near the Ukrainian-Russian border to observe gas flows to Europe, a Reuters photographer said. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)By Financial Times:
The bitter gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine descended into near-chaos on Tuesday, leaving European Union diplomats baffled as promises to restart supplies fully were broken and Moscow suggested that the US had meddled in the affair.
In a potentially alarming twist on Tuesday night, Gazprom, the Russian gas company, said it was unable to meet its legal commitments to supply European countries with gas because Ukraine was allegedly blocking the flow across its territory.
Russia and Ukraine both defied terms of a contract agreed last weekend with the EU to allow an EU-backed monitoring mission to observe gas transit, leaving people in 18 countries across the continent with supply disruptions.
José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, expressed “disappointment at both the level of gas flowing and our concerns about the access of our monitors”, in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister.
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