<|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|>Ukraine has started siphoning off Russian gas bound for European customers. This follows the cutoff of gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1, after the two countries’ gas companies failed to agree on a price for 2009.
G<wm>azprom, the largest Russian natural gas transport gas to Europe pipeline operator for Ukraine has, apparently announced this week, the start of the transit from Germany to Italy via Hungary of the expected deliveries. Thus, the transit capacity utilization rate has decreased, making the expected total transit volume for Ukraine to be reduced to the previous level.
According to the company’s spokesperson, this decision was based on the need to allocate the existing reserves from its current inventory, and to ensure a steady supply of gas to Europe during</wm> a time of crisis.
Gazprom also agreed to temporarily increase the transit volumes to Poland, Hungary