Disruption of Russian gas spreads to Czechs, Turks

Russian gas supplies to the Czech Republic and Turkey dropped yesterday, the latest victims of a deepening row between Russia and Ukraine over debts and pricing.

Russian natural gas supplies fell by five per cent to the Czech Republic as a result of the stand-off, which began when Russia cut off the gas to Ukraine on New Year's day. The two sides blame each other for the dispute.

"It is the first signal of the Russia-Ukraine crisis in the Czech Republic," said a spokesman for gas importer RWE Transgas.

European energy firms, which received about a fifth of their gas via pipelines through Ukraine, said they had enough gas stockpiled to maintain supplies for several days.

But analysts said Europe, where temperatures in many places were below zero, could face problems if the row dragged on beyond that.

European Union ambassadors will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels today, where the Czech presidency of the bloc will brief members about talks it has been holding with officials from Kiev and Moscow. Turkey reported a small fall in the gas it receives from Russia through a pipeline that passes through Ukraine, joining Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary which also said their supplies had dropped. Germany and France were unaffected.

Ukraine - long at odds with the Kremlin over its ambition to join Nato - accused Moscow of deliberately cutting flows to Europe and said the bloc needed to send a signal to the Kremlin that it cannot bully its pro-Western neighbours.

"If Europe... does not help us get out of this situation, then it can expect a more aggressive position from Russia on gas and other issues," Oleksander Shlapak, a senior Ukrainian presidential aide, said.