Europe gas supply suffers amid Russia-Ukraine dispute

LONDON, England (CNN) - A natural gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine
flared Tuesday when Ukraine accused the Russian supplier of cutting supplies to
Europe, and several European countries said their supply from Russia had been
cut or reduced.

Ukraine's state-run gas company said Gazprom, the Russian energy giant,
had shut three of four export pipelines that take natural gas through Ukraine
to the rest of Europe, significantly reducing supply.

Gazprom said Ukraine was to blame for shutting the pipelines to Europe.

"Ukraine is in obvious breach of obligations as a transit country,"
Gazprom's deputy chief executive, Alexander Medvedev, said.
Amid the finger-pointing, at least five European countries and Turkey
told CNN they were suffering a reduction or cut in natural gas coming from
Russia via Ukraine.

Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Austria, the Czech Republic and Greece did not
blame either side in the dispute for the cuts - only the dispute itself.