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/ 4 April 2008

Tensions rise at Russia-Nato summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday started a tense summit with Nato leaders amid mounting tensions over United States anti-missile defence plans and the alliance’s expansion toward Russian territory. In a rare moment of cooperation, Russia and Nato concluded a deal on land transit for non-military freight to Afghanistan.

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/ 5 March 2008

Gazprom: Ukraine preparing to divert gas

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom accused the Ukraine on Wednesday of planning to siphon off gas that Russia transits through Ukrainian territory to the European Union, as a payment dispute escalated. Ukraine is the main transit route for Russian supplies to the European Union and a previous such dispute in 2006 led to knock-on disruption in EU countries.

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/ 4 March 2008

Russia halves Ukraine supplies as gas war looms

Russia and Ukraine slid towards a new gas war on Tuesday as Moscow slashed supplies to the ex-Soviet republic by 50% and Ukraine’s state gas company said it may cut deliveries to Europe. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom was to cut supplies to 50% of their normal level on Tuesday at 5pm GMT, doubling a 25% cut already in force since Monday.

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/ 19 November 2007

Seventy dead as rescue teams battle Ukraine mine fire

Rescue teams battled a tenacious fire in a Ukrainian colliery on Monday as they strove to locate 30 miners missing underground after a methane blast killed at least 70 miners. The explosion at the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk, heart of Ukraine’s Donbass coalfield, is likely to become the country’s deadliest accident since independence from Soviet rule in 1991.

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/ 19 November 2007

More than 50 killed in Ukraine coal mine blast

Ukraine was on Sunday night mourning one of the deadliest mining disasters in its 16-year history as an independent country, after at least 56 people were killed in an underground explosion — with 44 still missing. Rescue teams said there was almost no hope of finding more survivors at the Donbass colliery in eastern Ukraine.

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/ 3 October 2007

Russia issues gas ultimatum to Ukraine

Russia threatened on Tuesday to cut gas supplies to Ukraine again in a move that appears to reflect its displeasure at the prospect of a new orange government in Kiev. Gazprom, the state-controlled monopoly, said it would reduce supplies to Ukraine next month unless it settled a bill of more than ,3-billion.