European Union monitors of Russian gas flows have gained full access to
control rooms in order to verify shipments to Europe via
Ukraine,
the European Commission said Tuesday.
"As far as the deploying of the observers is concerned, it seems that that
has been sorted out," commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger told
journalists in Strasbourg, adding
that he was being "very cautious."
The European Commission said earlier that its energy monitors hadn't been given
access to all distribution points in Russia
and Ukraine
to check on the transfers of gas.
The two concerned sites were OAO Gazprom's (GAZP.RS) dispatching center in Moscow,
where there are two E.U. observers, and Naftogaz's dispatching center in Kiev,
where six E.U. monitors are placed.
In Brussels, commission spokesman
for energy issues Ferran Tarradellas said the monitors had since been allowed
into the control rooms where the gas flow monitoring screens are located.
"The Russians sent a small quantity of gas this morning at a single point,
then the pressure fell and there was nothing after that," he said.
"Not a single molecule of gas has arrived at other entry points, according
to our inspectors."
Kiev has said the resumption of gas
supplies has been held up by a lack of pressure in the network, the E.U.'s
Czech presidency said.
Russia and Ukraine
committed Monday to resuming shipments of Russian gas through Ukrainian
pipelines to E.U. consumers, but the flow was halted with Russian energy group
Gazprom accusing Ukraine
of blocking supplies.
"It's a big disappointment, there's no justification for these problems to
continue," said Laitenberger. "There's no reason to claim that gas
cannot be delivered to the E.U."