EU leaders kept up pressure yesterday on Russia and Ukraine to resolve their gas dispute after an attempt to resume transit supply failed to deliver gas to European consumers.
As hundreds of thousands of Europeans begin a second week with little or no heat in their homes, offices or schools, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico were due in Moscow to meet their Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on the gas crisis.
Both countries are among those to have been badly hit by the gas crisis, which has continued despite EU efforts to broker a solution.
The Ukrainian government said in a statement that the two European prime ministers would also visit Kiev later yesterday for talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Russia resumed gas supplies on Tuesday after international experts were placed along the pipeline route through Ukraine under an agreement reached with the EU, only to shut off them off again several hours later.
Gazprom accused Ukraine of blocking the gas, while Ukraine countered that the Russian energy giant had deliberately routed the gas in a way that made it impossible for Ukraine to pump it on to European consumers.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU was disappointed in a phone conversation with Putin after the EU reported “little or no gas” reaching Europe from Russia.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko accused Russia of trying to destabilize his country as energy officials explained they would have to cut domestic gas supplies in order to get Russian gas to Europe.
“This attack against Ukraine has the goal of provoking a revolt in the eastern regions,” a heavily industrialized and pro-Russian part of the country that relies to a large degree on Russian gas supplies, Yushchenko said.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s state gas company, Naftogaz, said the transit route chosen by Gazprom “would have required us to stop supplying gas to [the] eastern part of Ukraine,” adding that Gazprom turned down an alternative route.
However Gazprom’s deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev told journalists shortly after Russia announced that supplies had resumed that “Ukraine has blocked all our actions in respect of renewal of the transit of natural gas, which is unbelievable.”
In Brussels, EU commission spokesman for energy issues Ferran Tarradellas said the international 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,” he said.
Russia said it would initially pump only “test” amounts of gas on Tuesday, which would however have been enough to restore full supplies to Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Turkey.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS