PISAREVKA, Russia — Russian natural gas flowed into Europe once again Tuesday after Moscow and Kiev pulled back from an energy war that drastically reduced supplies to many nations for two tough winter weeks.
But the resolution looked more like a cease-fire than a permanent peace, with no guarantee against renewed hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, two former Soviet neighbors with sharply contrasting views of the future.
The experience of the past two weeks has left many in Europe bitter toward both and eager to sever an energy lifeline that leads to the gas fields of Siberia. The 27-nation European Union gets about a quarter of its gas from Russia.
Russia’s gas monopoly, Gazprom, began pumping gas into Ukraine about 10:30 a.m. local time, spokesman Boris Sapozhnikov said by telephone from the Sudzha metering station on the border with Ukraine. Ukraine’s state gas company, Naftogaz, confirmed that gas flowed through Sudzha, Pisarevka and other gas metering stations on its eastern border.
Several hours later, gas began pouring across Ukraine’s western border into Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Moldova — some of the nations hardest hit in the dispute. Supplies also returned to normal in Austria.
Russia halted the supplies Jan. 7 amid a dispute with Ukraine over 2009 gas prices, alleging that Ukraine was stealing gas destined for Europe. Ukraine disagreed, saying Russia was not sending enough “technical gas” to pump the rest toward Europe.
More than 15 nations in the Balkans and eastern Europe were left scrambling for alternative energy sources. Thousands of factories shut down for lack of fuel, and millions of people shivered in unheated homes.
Gazprom lost more than $1 billion in sales to Europe in the past two weeks and has inspired its customers to seek alternative sources. In the long run, that could mean trouble for Russia, which is highly dependent on energy revenues for its budget.
