Ukraine
is still not letting Russian natural gas into its pipeline system due to
"technical reasons," a spokesman for Ukraine's
state gas firm Naftogaz confirmed Thursday.
Russia's state gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) said earlier Thursday that Ukraine
for the third day in a row "refused" to open its taps despite
requests from Gazprom to transit nearly 100 million cubic meters of natural gas
to consumers in Slovakia, Moldavia and Balkan countries, which have been the
hardest hit by the gas dispute.
Russia cut off
gas supplies to Ukraine
on New Year's Day following a dispute over late payments and a failure to agree
on a price for 2009.
On Jan. 7, Russia
shut off all supplies, accusing Ukraine
of stealing gas bound for Europe, a charge Kiev
has denied.
Russia agreed
to start shipments again Tuesday, after reaching an agreement with Ukraine
and the European Union.
But Tuesday morning, Ukraine
refused to let gas into its pipeline system, saying Russia
sent the gas to the wrong entry point near the border town of Sudzha,
making it technically impossible to ship the gas to Europe.
Gazprom insists the gas is delivered through Sudzha, which it says is the sole
entry point for European exports. Meanwhile, Naftogaz has asked Gazprom to
deliver the gas at two other entry points, Valuiki and Pisarevka.
"This is not only our position. This is also the position of the European
Commission," said Naftogaz spokesman Valentin Zemlyansky.
However, European Commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas said Wednesday it had
received information from Ukraine
that the gas was delivered through the wrong entry points, but denied this was
the European Commission's position.
The dispute has left hundreds of thousands of households in southeastern Europe
without heating and has forced factories to shut down production in several
production.