Russia remains tough in standoff

In quick response to Lukashenko's order, Kremlin spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said Tuesday that Medvedev "has given all the necessary instructions" to Gazprom and others in response to the Belarusian blocking of the gas, in a telephone conversation with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.

Despite Minsk's urging that the debt be offset, Russia insisted on instant payment of the debt.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told a press conference in Moscow the only way to solve the ongoing gas debt dispute between Russia and Belarus would be Minsk paying off the debt as soon as possible.

Kupriyanov said it was unrealistic for Minsk to ask for debt to be offset against transit fees, since the two were totally different issues.

Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev, meanwhile, said the company was ready to jointly monitor transit across Belarus with European observers, "to assess who is doing what and who is violating what."

"We will do everything we can to ensure that our European consumers are not affected," he said, adding that Gazprom would continue to cut gas supplies if Minsk failed to take any measures to solve the debt issue.

Kupriyanov said Gazprom was studying ways to deliver gas supplies bypassing Minsk, in order to completely satisfy consumer demands from Europe and Russia's western enclave of Kaliningrad and negating the threats to block supply.

"We have already received confirmation for Ukraine's (gas transport) system readiness from Kiev. We plan to use gas from underground storage facilities and possibly spot markets. Kaliningrad customers will be provided with gas via Lithuania. All the customers will receive their full gas volume," said the spokesman on a Russian TV channel.

Europe worried

Caught in the gas row, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, was mulling over an emergency meeting to settle the gas debt disputes.

The RIA Novosti reported Commission spokeswoman Marlene Holzner saying the Commission would hold a working meeting with Belarus.

Holzner said earlier Tuesday the gas cuts might affect 6.25 percent of consumption volumes of the European Union.

Spokesman for the European Commission Delegation in Moscow Denis Daniilidis told the Interfax news agency Tuesday the European Union was also exploiting alternative routes to import natural gas from Russia bypassing Belarus.

Holzner on Monday said Lithuania, which fully depended on gas deliveries via Belarus, would be most affected following the gas suspension. Poland and Germany might also be indirectly affected.

Belarus is a transit country for part of Russian gas exports to Europe. A similar dispute between Moscow and Kiev early last year left some European countries short of heating fuel in deep winter.