Hopes for an early resolution to the Russian - Ukrainian dispute that has led to supplies of natural gas to several European countries were snuffed out on January 8 2009 as international news agencies reported that talks between representatives of the European Union and of Moscow and Kiev had ended with no progress and no plans to resume negotiations.

The BBC said that there was no sign that there would be direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Countries in Central and South Eastern Europe reported mixed progress in coping with the shortages created by the cutoff of Russian natural gas, with the worst hit holding in place restrictions on industry and imposing various other energy-saving cuts. In at least one country, Croatia, there already has been political fallout, with finger-pointing at the government in Zagreb for allegedly failing to anticipate such a crisis.

Countries left without any inflow of Russian natural gas include Bulgaria, which has restricted industrial use, closed some schools that have been left without heating and put in place energy-saving measures, as well as Croatia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia - Herzegovinva, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia and Austria.

Bulgaria's neighbour Serbia has asked to receive Russian gas via an alternative route through Belarus. From Belgrade, news website B92 reported on January 8 in Novi Sad, three thermo power plants had to be completely shut down overnight, leaving about 80 000 customers without central heating. Seven other cities and towns were without heating because their heating plants were not convertible from gas usage.

Hungary would provide Serbia with between one million and two million cubic metres of natural gas on January 8 to ease the country's gas shortage, Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said on January 8, Serbian agency Tanjug reported.

In Turkey, the state electricity company on January 8 rejected a news agency report of a halt in production at three power stations because of the cut in Russian gas supplies. However, production at one of the power stations has been cut by 50 percent, Turkey's Dogan News Agency said. 

Croatian news website Javno reported from Zagreb that the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) had blamed the Croatian government for the gas crisis in the country, saying that it should have and could have, but failed, to secure sufficient amounts of gas for households and the economy.

The SDP claimed that the government had not taken a single necessary step to increase gas production and despite Croatia's gas-dependency, it has failed to increase storage capacities which would secure necessary gas supplies or opened new supply routes, for instance with Hungary or North Africa.

Croatia's contract with Russia was up next year and such a contract should already have been made, because Croatia gets most  of its gas from Russia, the SDP said.

In Slovakia, Slovak gas utility Slovensky Plynarensky Priemysel (SPP) said that a state of emergency was in force. Slovak distribution network operator SPP - distribucia has declared for today first cuts in supplies for major industrial customers. Gas supplies to Slovakia's households were to continue without any restrictions, it was reported.

The Budapest Times reported on January 7 that Hungary's government had instructed further industrial consumers to limit their gas use as of 8am that day. The restriction affects industrial consumers using between 500 and 2500 cubic metres of gas an hour. Larger industrial users reduced their consumption the previous night.

Germany's Ruhrgas has committed to supply Hungary with a daily 2.5 million cubic metres of gas through pipelines connecting Hungary with western Europe for 10 days, energy minister Csaba Molnar said on January 7. On January 8, Hungary partially lifted gas use restrictions though it said it would reimpose them if needed, according to a statement from Hungarian refiner Mol Nyrt.

The Slovak Spectator reported that Russia was willing to restore gas supplies as soon as it could be sure that the gas would get to its EU-member state customers via Ukraine, the Slovak government office press department announced on January 7.

The announcement followed a reported phone conversation between Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"In a similar way that prime minister Fico informed the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko earlier on Wednesday, in a conversation with Putin he pointed out that he expected the Russian side to fulfil the valid obligations and contracts ... Slovakia, as a paying customer respecting all its obligations, has the right to get its supplies of natural gas," the press department said.

News agency Reuters reported that in Macedonia, the country's largest steel exporter shut its doors and forced its about 1000 workers to take vacation days. A pipe-making factory also closed.

RWE Transgas, the Czech Republic's biggest natural-gas trading company, said domestic fuel supplies remained sufficient even as supplies from Russia remain stopped for a second day, Bloomberg agency said.