Brussels, 03/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - Informed on Tuesday 2 October about a late payment from Ukraine for gas supplies from Russian energy giant Gazprom, which could result in a holding back of gas supplies to Ukraine if a suitable solution cannot be found, the European Commission immediately called on Gazprom and the Ukrainian authorities to find a speedy settlement for this issue. Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it might cut its gas supplies to Ukraine if the country failed to settle by the end of the month a $1.3 bn debt for gas already supplied to Ukraine. In a press release, the European Commission says that Gazprom has assured it that it will honour its commitments to supply EU companies. As we were going to press, Ukrainian Energy Minister Iouri Boïko was arriving in Moscow on Wednesday 3 October to continue negotiations with Gazprom managers. Curren Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Ianoukovitch announced that he would probably be travelling to Moscow himself to discuss the issue with the Russian authorities. Despite assurances by Gazprom that the new dispute had purely economic roots and that Gazprom had waited for the recent Ukrainian general election results in order to avoid political interference, the new threat is seen by many observers as Russia's political response, via its energy weapon, to the still to be confirmed victory of the pro-Western coalition in Ukraine led by Ioulia Timochenko. The EU has been monitoring the situation closely since the January 2006 crisis. On Wednesday, Ferran Tarradellas, spokesperson for EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, said that nearly 80% of Russian gas imports to the EU passed through Ukraine and the Commission therefore had to remain vigilant. Tarradellas announced a meeting of the Gas Coordination Group of experts from the European Commission and the member states later this month to assess the possible impact of this dispute in terms of gas supplies to the EU market. (eh)