Russia Warns Gas Supply to EU Countries Under Definite Threat if Price Dispute Not Solved

With the situation in Ukraine entering a 'point of no return' as Russian troops march into the region, Russia's energy minister Alexander Novak warned Friday that Russian gas supplies to Europe would definitely be disrupted.

 "The situation is extremely critical as the heating season approaches," Novak said at a joint press conference with the EU's Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger. 

"There is a high risk that gas delivered by Gazprom for Europe will be illegally taken by Ukraine for its own use," he warned, reports the Agence France Press.

The Ukraine government and Moscow have been fighting over gas price agreement since 2009. In June, Russian gas company Gazprom cut all gas supplies to Ukraine after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on payments. .According to Gazprom, Ukraine owed it  $5.3 billion in backlog bills

The 28-nation bloc depends on energy imports for more than 50 percent of its needs, and roughly 40 percent of those imports are supplied by Russia. The pipelines to Europe pass through Ukraine.

Currently, around 15 percent of EU gas supplies flow through Ukraine

Ukraine's gas supply will last till the New Year, said gas industry expert Rustam Tankayev from the Russian Union of Oil and Gas Producers, according to an earlier report from Moscow Times. The beginning of the new year will escalate matters, what political pundits call as "communal catastrophe".

Ukraine wants a tripartite agreement on the gas supply issue with either Brussels pitching in for a new deal or making alternate arrangements.

Russia's energy minister said the talks with Oettinger were constructive but the price dispute had not been resolved.

Oettinger was against using the border crisis to force a resolution.

The Russian minister and Gazprom chief Alexei Miller both were ready to restructure the debt repayment  if a part of the money was paid by Ukraine, reports AFP citing Russian news agencies.