Putin Summons Journalists to Tell Them: It's Not the Kremlin's Fault

Vladimir Putin last night vehemently denied that his country was to blame for the gas crisis, and said Ukraine's "criminal leadership" was responsible for "turning off" Europe's gas supplies.

In a conversation with a group of European journalists summoned last night to his Moscow dacha, the prime minister said Russia had done everything it could to ensure the "reliable" delivery of gas to Europe. Instead, Ukraine had refused offers to negotiate and had been trying to blackmail Russia, he declared.

"Russia is not to blame. We didn't turn off the gas to Europe," he said, waving a copy of a transit agreement signed last autumn between Moscow and Kiev.

Putin endorsed the proposal to send international observers to the Ukrainian-Russian border to monitor gas flows.

Last night a statement from the Czech Republic appeared to suggest that a plan to send 12 EU monitors to ensure the flow of gas had been agreed.

The hastily arranged round table for a small group of western journalists, including the Guardian, reflects the Kremlin's frustration that it appears to be losing the propaganda battle. Ukraine says Russia stopped delivering gas first - a claim many European capitals appear to believe.

Yesterday, Putin chastised the western media. "If I read the western and US press it isn't objective. It paints an absolutely partial picture - 'Russia turns off the gas.' Well, we didn't turn off the gas," Putin insisted. He said Russia's state energy firm, Gazprom, had done everything it could to reach agreement with its Ukrainian counterpart, only for the Ukrainians to walk out of negotiations. It had offered Kiev $250 per 100 cubic meters of gas for 2009 - even though Russia was itself paying $340 for gas from central Asia, he said.

Russia continued to supply Ukraine with gas last week, even though Kiev was illegally siphoning off transit gas, Putin said. On 7 January Ukraine shut down the last of four transit pipelines, he claimed.

Asked whether Moscow was now using energy as a political weapon, Putin pointed out that Moscow was still supplying gas to Georgia, with which it fought a brief and acrimonious war last August. "We don't link political problems with economic problems. We sell. Others buy. That's it."