Gas Dispute Offers EU an Angle

BRUSSELS

The dispute arises from an unrealistic deal that the prime ministers Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko signed in January to end the previous round of gas wars between Russia and its former Soviet republic. That committed the Ukrainian company Naftogaz to fill up its storage tanks this summer with natural gas bought from the Russian monopoly Gazprom, and sell it back in the winter for supply to the West.

The problem is that Ukraine is almost broke and Naftogaz, which can just manage to pay its monthly gas bill to Moscow, can