European nations shivering amid a cutoff of Russian natural gas should form a consortium to purchase from Russia the fuel that is needed to pump the gas west though Ukraine's pipelines, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin suggested Thursday.
The proposal was a unique suggestion for solving the nine-day crisis that has cut off nearly all gas to some countries and sparked anger in European capitals and homes. But it addresses only one of the many complex and contentious issues dividing Russia, the gas supplier, and Ukraine, the pipeline owner.
Europe gets about one-quarter of all its gas from Russia, with 80 percent of that coming via pipelines that cross Ukraine. Russia stopped selling gas to Ukraine for domestic use on Jan. 1 because Kiev refused Moscow's price demands. Russia then accused Ukraine of siphoning off Europe-bound gas and stopped sending any into Ukrainian pipelines on Jan. 7.
After reaching a European Union-brokered deal on monitoring gas flows, Russia turned on the taps on Tuesday, but little or none of that gas has reached Europe. Ukraine says Russia is demanding the gas go by a route that would force Ukraine to cut off gas being shipped from its own reserves to domestic users.
Ukraine is also demanding that Russia supply the so-called "technical gas" needed to power compressors that push Europe-bound gas farther down the pipelines. Previously, Russia insisted that Ukraine pay for that gas, or accused it of "stealing" that technical gas.
Putin, in a meeting with the head of Italian gas concern ENI, proposed that a European consortium buy the technical gas from Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. ENI head Paolo Scaroni characterized the proposal as "constructive," according to Russian news agencies, but other countries' reactions were not immediately known.
"We have to help our Ukrainian friends while they are incapable of ensuring the transit, but ... Russia is not ready to take all the risks," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a conference call.
Peskov said the consortium would give the technical gas an "international character" that would discourage Ukraine from stealing it. He also said Ukraine ultimately would have to pay for the gas, but that prices have not been discussed.
Ukraine has denied all charges of stealing, saying it was Russia's responsibility to push the gas to Europe.
Russia's demand that Ukraine pay $450 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas _ more than twice what it paid last year _ is one of the main issues in the dispute.
Putin suggests Europe pays to pump needed gas west
