Baltic States – CIS, Energy, EU – CIS, Gas, Lithuania

His words were passed to ELTA by Foreign Ministry"s spokesman Rolandas Kacinskas.

As reported, the Russian and Ukrainian gas companies have not reached an agreement yet concerning the gas supply agreement for 2009, because Ukraine disagrees with the new gas prices. On January 1, Russia suspended the supply of gas to Ukraine. On January 4, the Russian gas company Gazprom accused Ukraine that consumers in Europe did not receive 50 million cubic meters of gas due to Ukraine"s fault. Ukraine claims that it is Russia that should be blamed for disarrays and denies having appropriated gas.

"Minister Usackas underlines that it is visible from the information on the progress of events related to gas supply received from Ukraine that the situation is complex, therefore Lithuania supports the idea that the EU should get involved in the solving of this matter," Kacinskas, acting spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, commented to ELTA.

According to the Foreign Ministry spokesman, on 1 January, Foreign Minister Usackas discussed current situation of gas provision to Ukraine with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Ohryzko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech EU Presidency Karel Schwarzenberg and member of the European Commission Andris Piebalgs. On Monday, conversations on the role of the EU in the argument between Ukraine and Russia are taking place between the EU ambassadors in the EU in Brussels. They will be continued at the meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Prague on January 8.

"Usackas underlines that the active role of the EU in the solving of the argument on gas supply between Russia and Ukraine would comply with the highlights of the EU Eastern Neighborhood and would contribute to the insurance of energy security in the entire of the EU," claimed Kacinskas.

Reviewers underline that the EU member states have a different opinion on the way to react to the argument between Russia and Ukraine.