Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal Hit By Last-minute Hitch

An agreement between Russia and Ukraine that would have restored the flow of gas to frozen and frustrated EU countries was again thrown into doubt last night as Moscow declared the deal void because of additions demanded by Kiev.

Early yesterday Ukraine, Russia and the EU seemed to have reached a deal under which a team of international experts would monitor the renewed flow of gas from pumping stations on either side of the Ukrainian-Russian border.

The Czech prime minister and EU president, Mirek Topalanek, who held talks with Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Saturday, yesterday predicted that gas supplies could start arriving in the EU within the next 36 hours.

However, there was confusion last night after the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, declared additional notes added to the deal by Ukraine as "a mockery of common sense".

Among the notes added by Ukraine, and rejected by Russia, was an insistence that: "Ukraine has always been and remains a reliable transit country and has not interrupted transit of gas to the EU member states" and "Ukraine has not made any non-contractual gas take-offs in 2009".

Czech mediators insisted that the deal was still alive. "A unilateral statement of Ukraine, which we have received this afternoon, does not change the validity of the agreement signed by the European commission, the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the monitoring of the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine," the EU presidency said in a statement.

Medvedev said: "I cannot call such stipulations and additions other than a mockery of common sense and violation of earlier agreements. These actions aim to disrupt the existing agreements on monitoring gas transit and are clearly provocative and destructive in essence ... I therefore order the government not to implement the document signed yesterday."

Eastern and central Europe have borne the brunt of the supply disruptions, with Bulgaria shutting schools and Slovakia saying it would restart a nuclear reactor which it shut down last year. Slovakia's move prompted an angry response from neighboring Austria.

In Sofia, residents expressed anger. "Half of Europe has become a hostage of the squabbling between Russia and Ukraine. This is pure blackmail, totally unacceptable and we should demand financial compensation," Krasimira Dimitrova, 56, told Reuters.

Energy companies in the Balkans, where temperatures dropped as low as -17C, have switched to alternative fuels and alternative imports to restore heating to hundreds of thousands of homes.

Yesterday monitors from the European commission arrived at Russia's Sudzha compressor station, near the Ukraine border. The EU says it plans to deploy five monitoring teams to sites in both countries.