Ukraine president proposes commission to resolve gas crisis

(KIEV) - Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday proposed the creation of a commission to resolve the dispute with Russsia that has led to the cutting of gas supplies to Europe via his country.

"The Ukraine head of state has declared in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev that Ukraine was ready to do everything possible in order to ensure the transit of gas supplied by Russia," the president's press service said in a statement.

The Ukrainian president "proposed the creation of a commission made up of representatives of both parties (in the conflict) as well as a third representing European consumers, which would analyse the reasons for the crisis and come up with recommendations for an immediate return to the normal arrangement," the statement added.

During the phone conversation Medvedev told Yushchenko that Russia would only resume gas supplies if Ukraine paid market rates and if EU observers and international lawyers were involved, Russian news agencies reported earlier Wednesday.

Medvedev was cited as saying that Ukraine also had to pay its debts for gas imports immediately and stop preventing the transit of gas towards Europe.

Russia halted gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1 as part of a bitter payment dispute and stopped deliveries to Europe through Ukraine entirely on Wednesday after accusing Ukraine of illegally blocking transit gas.

The European Union depends on Russian natural gas pumped through Ukraine for around a fifth of its total gas needs. The dispute has caused major energy supply disruptions in several European countries.