After its credibility was hammered as a stable supplier of gas to Europe in its gas transit row with Ukraine earlier this month, Russia is speeding the completion of two new gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine as the EU seriously looks for alternative energy sources to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

In an interview with Bulgarian national television yesterday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia will speed up the construction of the South Stream and the Nord Stream pipelines that bypass Ukraine.

"If we can diversify supplies, Europe will depend less on the whims of the political regime in one country or another," he said.

Medvedev repeated what he had said earlier, that Russia was not responsible for the gas supply cut, which nearly brought Europe to its knees for two weeks in the middle of a harsh winter, the worst seen in a decade in most parts of Northern and Eastern Europe with the Balkans particularly facing the freeze as Ukraine and Russia battled over gas price and transit costs.

"Judicial responsibility has to be brought against the party that is really to blame for not respecting its contract," and he wanted an "international legal control mechanism" to be created so that the transit country will not be able to break its obligations bound by a commercial contract.

The Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea and the South Stream pipeline from Russia to the Balkans under the Black Sea will not transit through any country, giving Europe direct access to Russian gas for the first time.

But Moscow had found it difficult in the past to fund the $20 billion Nord Stream gas pipeline to deliver 30-35 billion cubic metres of gas, while the South Stream pipeline, also costing around $20 billion, can pump an estimated 30 million cubic meters of gas.

So far Europe has been dependent on a single gas source while its gas consumption has grown more than 70 per cent since 1990 since three-quarters of its power requirement has been met by cheap gas-fired power in the absence of new nuclear and coal-fuelled power stations.

The European Commission, looking for energy security in wake of the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis, has proposed investing €3.5 billion of unspent EU money in energy for new gas pipelines and electricity networks which would inter-connect member states, as well as for offshore wind projects and carbon capture facilities.

The Commission also earmarked a symbolic €250 million for the Nabucco pipeline, which will cost $13 billion to construct and has a capacity to move 30 billion cubic meters of gas by bypassing Russia and deliver Caspian gas directly to Europe.

Russia had cut off gas supplies first to Ukraine on 1 January 2009 when talks failed over its failure to pay $2 billion in previous gas bills to Russia and its refusal to accept new gas rates, hiked by Rusia from $180 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas to $418. (See: Gazprom to cut off European gas supplies as Russia-Ukraine talks fail)

A week later, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cut off gas supplies to Europe from the Ukrainian transit pipelines after Russia accused Ukraine of stealing Europe-bound gas from the pipelines. (See: Putin cuts European gas supplies via Ukraine)

Russian and Ukrainian gas companies Gazprom and Naftogaz managed to finally agree on 21 January on a decade-long pact on gas pricing and transit through Ukrainian pipelines to Slovakia in the EU, as Kiev allowed Russian gas to flow onwards for consumption in Europe without interruption.

The move marked the end of what was noted thus far as possibly the worst in what is panning out as a series of political issues between Russia and Ukraine. (See: Russian gas starts trickling into Europe again)