Russia's gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) said that shipment of natural gas to European consumers has not restarted as planned Tuesday because Ukraine has not opened the pipelines for the transit.
Gazprom's deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev said that Ukraine presented "unreasonable requests" to Gazprom and did not open its pipelines as agreed Monday for the transit of gas. "We're still trying to pump the gas, but it's not even at the end of the pipe, it's at the beginning of the pipe," he said. Supplies to many European countries were cut off due to a pricing spat between Moscow and Kiev at the beginning of the year. "We're not hiding the fact that the situation is extraordinary," Medvedev said during a conference call.