EU tells Putin to quit gas scaremongering

(BRUSSELS) - Europe on Saturday told Russian leader Vladimir Putin to quit scaremongering over its gas supplies, saying heating for tens of millions of elderly EU citizens is no electoral plaything.

"It's all part of the Ukraine presidential election campaign" which culminates in a January vote, said a European Union commission spokesman after the Russian premier warned on Friday of fresh Ukrainian payment problems.

"We are not going to get dragged into an election campaign and it is not for European citizens to suffer because of any potential conflict between Russia and Ukraine over payment for gas supplies destined for Europe.

"We have not received any notification from Moscow of potential problems in our gas supply" under a formal mechanism put in place after chaos in past chapters of the recurrent crisis, the spokesman stressed.

Russian gas supplies were cut off to a dozen European countries for two weeks in January as part of a bitter dispute over payments and prices between Russia and Ukraine.

"It seems we are again having problems with the payment of our energy supplies which is extremely sad," said Putin.

The Russian premier said his Kiev counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko told him that Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko, "is blocking normal cooperation between the central bank... and the Ukrainian government and blocking the transfer of appropriate funds.

"The question is: what are we to do?" Putin underlined.

Tymoshenko is running against arch-foe Yushchenko as well as the more pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich in a presidential poll, the first round of which is scheduled for January 17.

Putin also accused Brussels of failing to prop up the ex-Soviet nation at a time of need.

"The European Union has not given money to Ukraine," Putin said. "Not a single cent, not a single hryvnia."

A July agreement for international financial assistance to Ukraine allowed for an October influx of funding from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, totalling 570 million euros (785 million dollars).

However, the full 16.5 billion euros in International Monetary Fund-led loans -- which expressly included money for paying Kiev's gas bills -- were always dependent on "serious reforms" in Ukraine's economy, the Brussels spokesman added.

The commission on Friday proposed that member states grant Ukraine a further loan of up to 500 million euros to help speed those reforms.

Hit harder than most by global recession, Ukraine faces a 15 percent contraction of its economy this year.

Earlier this week Naftogaz issued a statement saying it will pay for October gas supplies on time. Gazprom declined to comment on Friday.

Strategies to lessen European dependence on Russian gas -- and avoid what Brussels sees as recurrent blackmail at the onset of each winter -- will be discussed in Washington this week at a summit between the United States and the 27-nation EU.

A new EU-US energy council will meet for the first time on Wednesday.