* Bulgaria say deliveries have dropped
* Poland, Hungary and Romania also affected
* Ukraine accuses Russia of "energy blackmail"
* EU calls for special talks, says deals must be honoured
By Guy Faulconbridge and Sabina Zawadzki
KIEV, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Russian gas flows to Bulgaria
dropped on Saturday in a fresh sign that Moscow's decision to
cut off its neighbour Ukraine in a row over pricing was
disrupting supplies to some European Union members.
Bulgaria's Bulgargaz operator joined energy firms in Poland,
Romania and Hungary in saying they had noted falls in supply,
though the main pipeline through the Czech Republic to Germany
-- Europe's biggest economy -- was working normally.
Russia has accused Ukraine of stealing gas in transit to
Europe but in Kiev, state energy firm Naftogaz hit back by
saying Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom <GAZP.MM> had itself
reduced supplies to Europe and was using "energy blackmail."
Gazprom halted supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day, saying
Ukraine had failed to pay its gas bill and talks on 2009 gas
prices had broken down.
Three years after a similar dispute briefly disrupted
supplies, European fears of gas flows dropping off in the dead
of winter were once again becoming a reality.
The European Union, which gets a fifth of its gas from
pipelines that cross Ukraine, said it would call a crisis
meeting of envoys in Brussels on Monday and demanded that
transit and supply contracts be honoured.
"Energy relations between the EU and its neighbours should
be based on reliability and predictability," the Czech
presidency of the 27-nation bloc said in a statement on Friday.
The disruptions are likely to undermine Russia's attempts to
present itself as a stable energy supplier and add to concern
that Moscow is trying to bully its neighbours just five months
after the war with Georgia.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has angered the
Kremlin by trying to join the NATO military alliance.
Europe, where temperatures fell below freezing overnight,
has enough gas stockpiled to manage without Russian supplies for
several days but could face difficulties should problems last
for weeks, analysts said.
EUROPEAN SUPPLIES
Bulgargaz CEO Dimitar Gogov said supply levels have not
fallen below a critical level but further reductions could force
the company to introduce restrictions for customers.
"The pipeline pressure has dropped and we are getting
smaller deliveries as of Saturday morning," Bulgargaz's chief
executive Dimitar Gogov told Reuters.
Ukraine's Naftogaz issued a statement saying Russia was
responsible for the fall in supplies to Europe and it urged
Moscow to restart talks soon.
"The company thinks that Gazprom's position breaches
international practices of holding negotiations ... and amounts
to energy blackmail," the company said.
In an indication of how seriously Moscow and Kiev view the
crisis, both sides had delegations touring European capitals to
explain their positions.
Alexander Medvedev, head of Gazprom's export arm, was in the
Czech Republic, holder of the EU's rotating presidency, for
talks with officials.
Russia's 2006 dispute with Ukraine prompted calls for the EU
to reduce its reliance on Russian gas but Gazprom forecasts that
the bloc will rely on Russia for as much as one-third of its gas
by 2015, up from about a quarter now.
Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, said on Thursday he wanted
Ukraine to pay $418 per 1,000 cubic metres (tcm) of gas,
compared with the $179.50 Kiev paid in 2008.
Talks between Gazprom and Ukraine's state-run gas company,
Naftogaz, have not resumed since failing late on New Year's Eve
and the two sides remain far apart.
Ukraine says the most it can afford to pay is $235 but only
if Gazprom pays it more for gas transit. Gazprom says it already
has a gas transit deal to 2010 and does not need to rework it.
Ukraine, facing a deep recession, says it can ill afford to
pay higher prices for its gas.
Ukrainians on the street in Kiev seemed to blame their own
politicians for failing to get a deal with Russia.
"This is just bandits sitting in the Kremlin arguing,
deciding, talking to bandits sitting in Grushevska street," Oleg
Karlichyk a plumber in his mid-30s going on his way to work,
said referring to the seats of power in Moscow and Kiev.
