Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom headquarters Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008. Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom said Wednesday that Ukraine has threatened to seize gas intended for European customers if no deal is reached on gas shipments to Ukraine starting Jan. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)From Yahoo News/AP:
MOSCOW – Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom cut all natural gas supplies to Ukraine on Thursday morning after talks broke down over payments for past shipments and a new energy price contract for 2009.
Gazprom officials said the cuts began as planned at 10 a.m. (0700GMT and 2 a.m. EST) and the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz confirmed a steady drop in supplies.
The festering dispute between the two uneasy neighbors raised fears that a cutoff could lead to a repetition of the January 2006 gas crisis, when a similar dispute between Russia and Ukraine briefly interrupted gas shipments to many European countries.
Europeans get about a quarter of their gas from Russia, and Ukraine controls the pipelines through which Russia supplies most of its customers in Europe. Natural gas is used for heating and to generate electricity, and the cutoff to Ukraine comes as Europe approaches the depths of winter.
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More News On The Gas Shutdown
EU Threat as Russia Prepares to Halt Ukraine Gas -- The Times
Gazprom Set to Halt Gas Shipments to Ukraine -- New York Times
Russia Accuses Ukraine of Blackmail on Gas Transit -- Voice of America
Russia to Stop Shipping Natural Gas to Ukraine -- Washington Post
My Comment: President Reagan warned about this 25 years ago. The Europeans disagreed. Now we know who was right.
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