* Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and Romania say supplies drop
* Russia's Gazprom says Kiev blocking exports by trader
* Russia asks EU to bring Ukraine to negotiating table
* EU calls for special talks, says deals must be honoured
* Ukraine accuses Moscow of "energy blackmail"
By Sabina Zawadzki and Dmitry Zhdannikov
KIEV/MOSCOW, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Russian gas flows to four
European Union countries were below normal levels on Saturday
after Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine in a pricing dispute,
and there were no talks in sight to resolve the dispute.
With temperatures below zero overnight in Europe, Bulgaria's
Bulgargaz operator joined energy firms in Poland, Romania and
Hungary in saying they had noted falls in supply, though flows
to Europe's biggest economy, Germany, were not affected.
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.
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 -- and Russia's
reputation as a reliable gas supplier was under new scrutiny.
Russia halted all supplies to Ukraine on Jan. 1 in what it
called a purely commercial dispute, but in the background is a
fierce disagreement over a drive by Kiev's pro-Western leaders
to join NATO.
Europe has enough gas stockpiled to manage without Russian
supplies for several days. It could face difficulties should
problems last for weeks, especially if cold weather drives up
demand, analysts said.
Signalling that a way out of the gas row was still some way
off, Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom said Kiev was not
ready to resume negotiations.
"They are not negotiating because there is nobody to
negotiate. It looks like they are not thinking about their own
country, just playing political games," Gazprom deputy CEO
Alexander Medvedev said after talks with officials in the Czech
Republic, holder of the EU's rotating presidency.
EU INTERVENTION
In a separate interview with Reuters, Medvedev said volumes
going to Poland, Hungary and Romania had fallen because Ukraine
was blocking exports by gas trade intermediary RosUkrEnergo, in
which Gazprom owns a 50 percent stake.
"That is why Poland, Hungary and Romania are suffering," he
said by telephone from Prague.
"Europe must be interested in helping to solve the dispute
as quickly as possible ... What we need from the EU is their
help to persuade Ukraine to follow the rules of behaviour at the
negotiating table," he said.
Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz blamed Gazprom for the
shortfalls in European supplies, saying Russia had reduced the
volumes it was pumping to Europe.
"The company thinks that Gazprom's position breaches
international practices of holding negotiations ... and amounts
to energy blackmail," it said in a statement.
In Sofia, Bulgargaz CEO Dimitar Gogov said supply levels had
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," Gotov told Reuters.
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.
European customers pay about $500, though that price is set
to drop in line with the falling price of crude.
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 reach a deal with Russia.
"This is just bandits sitting in the Kremlin arguing,
deciding, talking to bandits sitting in Grushevska street," said
Oleg Karlichyk, a plumber in his mid-30s on his way to work,
referring to the seats of power in Moscow and Kiev.
