Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) can no longer depend on Ukraine as a transit route to get gas to Europe and is looking at alternatives, the firm's deputy chief executive told the BBC here Friday.
"We believe it's necessary to develop, as soon as possible, alternative transit routes and we hope that Europe will make any necessary steps to support the realization of this project," Alexander Medvedev told the broadcaster.
Medvedev has embarked on a tour of European capitals to win support in the Ukraine gas crisis, which has raised new concerns about the reliability of supplies via Ukraine to Europe.
Gazprom cut supplies to the Ukrainian market on New Year's Day in a payment dispute.
Both sides said they were committed to ensuring transit supplies to European neighbors were maintained, but there were mutual recriminations between Moscow and Kiev as Hungary and Poland each reported shortfalls and the E.U. demanded contracts be honored.
Medvedev denied in the BBC interview that Gazprom was deliberately picking a fight with Ukraine, saying it was ready to talk but there was nobody to negotiate with in Kiev.
"We are ready to enter negotiations day and night, but they probably have other tasks than to solve this problem because they are not in Moscow," he said.
Gazprom currently has two new gas pipelines under construction - the Nord Stream pipeline, which will run from Russia's Baltic port of Vyborg to Greifswald in northern Germany, and the South Stream, which will cross the Black Sea into Bulgaria and then split, going to Austria and also Greece.