MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--Russia Wednesday proposed a fresh round of talks in a bid to resolve the natural gas dispute that has left parts of Europe without power, saying a meeting of all the parties involved could also help prevent a repeat of the stalemate in the future.
"I propose holding a summit in Moscow on Saturday for nations that receive and transit Russian gas," President Dmitry Medvedev said in televised comments.
Earlier Wednesday, Ukraine once again said it wouldn't transit Russian gas to Europe after OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) attempted to send almost 100 million cubic meters to the region.
In a deal brokered by the European Union, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas, Gazprom tried to resume shipments through Ukraine Tuesday. But the gas didn't reach Europe, with Moscow and Kiev blaming one another for the failure.
Russia and Ukraine have been at loggerheads since late last year over the price Kiev pays for Russian gas and how much it gets for onward transit to Europe.
Gazprom halted deliveries to Ukraine Jan. 1 after the two sides failed to agree a supply deal for 2009. It later froze 320 million cubic meters of daily exports to Europe via its neighbor, which it accuses of stealing gas heading across that route.
To compensate somewhat, Gazprom has increased volumes to Europe through Turkey and Belarus by 30 and 35 million cubic meters a day and has also tapped underground storage facilities in Europe and bought gas on the spot market.
Even so, Russian officials say Gazprom has lost more than $1 billion in export revenue this year and will seek compensation from Kiev.
The shutdown has also revealed that parts of the E.U. are clearly divided into haves and have-nots when it comes to gas supply security. While many eastern and central Europe nations have frozen, much of north and western Europe has passed relatively unscathed.
France and Germany have both experienced reductions in their gas imports as a result of the crisis. But both have large reserves of gas in store, 88 days' supply for France and 77 days for Germany.
They are close to Europe's main gas producing areas in the U.K., Norway and the Netherlands, which have been able to export gas to their neighbors to partly make up for the shortfall. France, Spain and the U.K. are also able to import large amounts of liquefied natural gas from overseas.
The eastern countries that are suffering the most in the crisis have comparatively little storage and a system designed for almost total dependence on Russian gas that offer few alternate import sources.
One of the hardest hit is Slovakia, whose Prime Minister Robert Fico visited Moscow Wednesday along with his Bulgarian and Moldovan counterparts.
With Ukraine's transit network still closed, Fico suggested a temporary deal under which Russia would send gas to Ukraine, which would in turn supply Slovakia using gas it has in underground storage.
Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said Russia might be able to ship 20 million cubic meters to Slovakia under that scheme and could also send some gas to Moldova.