Turkey and Russia optimistic on resolution of Ukranian gas dispute

The directors of Russian state energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz, as well as Russian and Ukrainian energy officials, would also take part in the talks in Moscow, the news agency reports said.

Russia has invited leaders of all the nations consuming its gas to a summit at the Kremlin on Saturday afternoon but it is unclear who will attend, apart from Ukraine, the EU and Turkey.

Turkey would be represented by Energy Minister Hilmi Guler and State Minister Nazim Ekren. This is Guler's second visit to Moscow in a week as part of Turkey's efforts to solve the dispute which disrupted gas supplies to Europe.

Guler said the atmosphere in Moscow during his previous visit signalled "a serious crisis is underway" but now sounded optimistic regarding the Saturday's meeting.s

"It is important for us and everybody that the crisis ends immediately. The (gas supplies) should return to normal levels," he told reporters before he left for talks.

"LAST AND BEST CHANCE"

Brussels will send European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Czech Industry and Trade Minister Martin Riman, representing the European Union's presidency, but has discouraged individual member states from attending because it wants to negotiate with Moscow as a bloc.

The European Commission has said the talks are the "last and best chance" to resolve a dispute that has seen a large chunk of Europe struggling to cope with a cut-off of Russian gas supplies in the middle of a bitterly cold winter.

In Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she was confident of a deal before leaving for Moscow to meet her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the first face-to-face talks between Moscow and Kiev since the start of the crisis.

"There is a need to compromise in order to preserve friendly relations between Ukraine and Russia and to uphold the reputation of both countries in Europe," she said in a statement posted on the government web site late Friday. "I am sure that such a compromise will be brokered," she added.

But she also warned that she did not want "a knife in the back," an apparent reference to her constant infighting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who has taken a harder line against Russia in the negotiations.

PUTIN OPTIMISTIC

The row takes place against a backdrop of strained political ties between Moscow and Kiev. Russia has been angered by Yushchenko's aspiration to join NATO and by Kiev's support for Tbilisi during the Russian-Georgian war in August.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also sounded optimistic. Speaking to German reporters on Saturday before his return to Moscow to meet Tymoshenko, Putin said he was "an optimist" about the meeting, adding: "I see that we will have to find an agreement at the end of the day." Putin also said there was "a trend of rapprochement" with Ukraine.

Europe warned Friday that it would be forced to review relations with Russia and Ukraine if they did not renew the flow of gas to Europe over the weekend, as the cutoffs of major gas supplies from Russia ground on for a second week.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was also on Saturday planning a meeting of representatives from countries that buy Russian gas or carry it through their territory although few European leaders said they would come.

Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine on Jan. 1 after talks on unpaid debts and 2009 gas prices broke down late on New Year's Eve. As the row deepened amid Moscow's claims that Ukraine was stealing Russian supplies destined for Europe, transit gas exports were cut on Jan. 7.