Russia reopens gas pipes but little fuel flows

Russia started pumping gas destined for Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday for the first time in nearly a week, but the European Union said little or no gas was flowing to countries suffering urgent energy shortages.

Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, accused Ukraine of siphoning off the gas for its own use. Ukraine's state energy firm said it could not ship the gas without cutting off several of its own regions.

Technicians at Russia's Sudzha pumping station, near the border with Ukraine, opened the gas taps at 10 a.m (0700 GMT).

But no gas was heading for southeast Europe, which has borne the brunt of the gas cut-off with factory closures and heating shortages during bitter winter weather, Bulgaria's state gas monopoly said.

The European Commission said Europe needed the gas urgently and an aide to Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he expressed disappointment in a telephone call with Putin over the low volumes pumped by Russia.

An EU official in Brussels said there was only a small stream of gas coming in at Sudzha.

"Ukraine asked for nomination of a full 350 million cubic metres per day. Russia said they had to start slowly. They started with 1 million cubic metres per hour in Sudzha."

"That was supposed to be increased but the latest news I have is that is it going down again, or going towards zero," the official said, adding that the pipelines proposed by Moscow to deliver the gas were "not an easy route".