Moscow/Kiev - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave his approval to a full stop to pumping Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine in a further escalation of a week-long energy dispute between Moscow and Kiev. Putin was briefed by Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller on possible measures to respond to Ukraine's "thieving" of gas intended for European clients after Russia slapped an embargo on gas to Ukraine on January 1 over a deadlock over pricing for 2009.
Putin gave the go-ahead to shutting the taps, with the Interfax news agency quoting him as saying "This should be done publically and in the presence of international observers."
Putin is set to fly to Berlin late next week for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel amid the snowballing dispute, German diplomats said Wednesday.
The talks are expected to touch on Gazprom's plans for the North Stream pipeline to carry Russian gas directly to Germany by passing Ukraine.
The project headed by former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could be catapult forward by European worries over the security of its in the current crisis, analyst said.
Kiev and Moscow traded blame as the dispute turned into an emergency issues for the European Union, who saw many of its member states experience drastic drops in supply in freezing temperatures.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko sent a letter Russian President Dmitry Medvedev calling for Russia to immediately end its embargo on gas shipments. Russia responded with a demanded that Kiev cease instantly siphoning off gas and smooth the transit Russian gas westward, the Kremlin said.
A spokesman for Ukraine's state-run energy company Naftogaz Ukrainy, Valentyn Zemlyanskiy, said Gazprom shut the taps at 7:44 am Kiev time (0544 GMT).
Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev said shipments could not be sent via Ukraine because Kiev had block the pumping stations on its western border.
Ukraine shut down the last of four major pumping stations on the Ukraine-EU border after which Gazprom turned off the taps, Medvedev said from Berlin, where he was meeting with European energy heads in a lobbying push by the Russian gas giant to preserve its reputation.
On the eve of the latest cut, Miller had warned in a televised briefing with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that "if Ukraine fully stops delivery of gas to the West, we do not see sense in supplying gas to the border with Ukraine."
The EU on Wednesday condemned both countries of irresponsible behavior, demanding an "urgent solution" to their contract dispute.
Gazprom said it had increased through two other transit routes through Belarus and Turkey.
But 80 per cent of Russian gas shipments to Europe travel via Ukrainian pipeline and alternative routes have a limited capacity to stabilize supplies.
Around half of the 450 million cubic metres of gas usually delivered Europe in the winter months was being shipped, Gazprom said on Wednesday.
Already Gazprom had cut on Tuesday its shipments through Ukraine destined for European consumers by two-thirds, effectively under supplying demand to thwart what it alleged was Kiev's theft of on- shipments.
The cuts hit hard in Europe where half of the EU's 27 member states confirmed seeing steep pressure drops in their pipelines, sparking shortfalls as far downstream as Paris.
The crisis evoked ill memories of a similar dispute in 2006 that pushed the European Union to seek energy security by diversifying away from Russian gas.
Europe is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas deliveries, with Moscow providing EU nations roughly one-quarter of their gas needs. The European Commission said it was monitoring the situation.
In another letter, Yushchenko offered European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to deploy energy technicians to Ukraine so they could independently evaluate the volume of Russian natural gas entering Ukraine.
Such an evaluation could help end accounting disputes between Kiev and the Kremlin by introducing transparency and removing bias from estimates of Russian gas volumes entering Ukraine, Yushchenko wrote.
Ukrainian and Russian officials are due to meet in Moscow on Thursday for talks to resolve the commercial dispute, which came to a head at the end of 2008 with the expiration of Russo-Ukrainian contracts for gas shipments.
