Putin Calls Up Romanian President Over Gas Situation

 According to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, Putin informed Basescu that Ukraine, via its pipeline routes, is the one blocking the transit of Russian gas to Europe.

Basescu expressed his deepest concern over the gas situation during the phone conversation with Putin, and said he fully agrees with Russia’s stance on the matter.

Russia resumed natural gas supplies on Tuesday after international experts were placed along the pipeline route through Ukraine under an agreement reached with the EU, only to shut them off again several hours later.

Gazprom accused Ukraine of blocking the gas, while Ukraine countered that the Russian energy giant had deliberately routed the gas in a way that made it impossible for Ukraine to pump it on to European consumers.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said energy officials explained they would have to cut internal gas supplies to four regions in order to allow the Russian gas to transit.