MOSCOW, Dec 29: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine had failed to break the deadlock in their dispute over gas debts, as the clock ticked down to a New Year deadline to settle the dispute.

“We have not agreed so far,” Putin said on Monday, after what he said was an hour-long telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. Asked why the two sides had still failed to reach an agreement, Putin replied succinctly: “Because they (Ukraine) do not want to pay.”

Putin’s comments came as Russia ramps up pressure on Ukraine to pay off $2 billion in gas debts in full or face a cut in gas supplies from January 1.

Moscow and Kiev are locked in a price dispute, the fourth in as many years, and Gazprom has said it will cut supplies to Ukraine if it does not pay off its gas debt in full by January 1 so a new contract can be signed.

Also on Monday, the CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom Alexei Miller and the head of Ukraine state gas company Naftogaz Oleh Dubyna were meeting in Moscow but the meeting has not yielded any result so far, a Gazprom spokeswoman said.

“Unfortunately, nothing is happening so far,” she told AFP. “Everything changes every hour.”

Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev expressed hope in a televised interview that the countries would find a solution within the next three days.

“We very much hope that the proposals that we are tirelessly putting forward will be accepted by the Ukrainian side, which will allow us to enter the new year with the signed contracts and reassure the people in Europe, in Russia and Ukraine,” he told a television channel.

Medvedev reiterated that Gazprom had taken steps to keep its European partners informed of progress in the gas dispute. —AFP