Efforts to restart Russian natural gas shipments to European countries faltered once again Tuesday, despite earlier agreement, as Moscow and Kiev pointed fingers and exacerbated a spat that has left parts of the continent without heating.
Russia's gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) said that Ukraine hasn't opened the pipelines to make the transit possible.
Gazprom's Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev indirectly blamed the United States for the gas row and said that Ukraine presented "unreasonable requests" to Gazprom.
"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," Medvedev told reporters on a conference call.
Meanwhile, Ukraine national gas company Naftogaz's spokesman Valentin Zemlyansky told Dow Jones Newswires that gas volumes shipped from Russia Tuesday weren't sufficient to create necessary pipeline pressure for onward transit to Europe. He also called the switching on of the gas by Gazprom Tuesday morning "technically incorrect" and "provocative."
Gas transit destined for the Balkans, Turkey and Moldova was to restart Tuesday after Russia, Ukraine and the European Union signed an agreement Monday setting the terms of reference for teams of experts who will monitor Ukraine's gas-transit network. Gazprom's Medvedev said Tuesday that Ukraine is "dancing to the music, which is being orchestrated not in Kiev but outside the country." Medvedev said he was referring to an agreement between Ukraine and the U.S.
"We don't have all the details about the agreement," Medvedev told reporters during a conference call. "We do know that part of the agreement referred to gas transfer...we could make some guesses."
Medvedev didn't specify the agreement.
However, Ukraine signed a pact Dec. 19 with the United States on bilateral relations. Part of that document states that both countries intend to work together on "rehabilitating and modernizing the capacity of Ukraine's gas transit infrastructure and diversify and secure Ukraine's sources of nuclear fuel making Ukraine less dependent on foreign sources of nuclear fuel and nuclear fuel storage."
Medvedev cited the Dec. 19 U.S.-Ukraine charter agreement during a press conference Monday in Brussels.
The European Union Commission said Tuesday that all the conditions Russia and Ukraine had demanded to resume gas supply to Europe are in place and there is no reason why the gas shouldn't start flowing.
"There is no excuse not to have gas flows back in the pipelines," as international observers are in place to oversee the gas flow, Energy Commissioner spokesman Ferran Tarradellas said during a regular press conference. Monitors are in place, but they still aren't granted full access to the dispatching centers in Moscow and Kiev, Tarradellas said.
Medvedev insisted that Ukraine was at fault Tuesday.
"The door was as closed as before," he said. "And we didn't close the door."