Russian gas giant Gazprom accused Ukraine on Monday of siphoning off gas intended for European customers and causing supply shortfalls in Europe.

"The amount of gas that remains in Ukraine exceeds the originally expected amounts. This does not allow us to fully comply with our obligations to foreign consumers," the company's deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev said on Russian television.

Gazprom increased the amount of gas pumped to Ukraine by 35 billion cubic meters over the past few days, but part of the gas export failed to reach European consumers, Medvedev said.

Gazprom provides about half the gas consumed in the European Union and 80 percent of that amount is sent through pipelines that cross Ukraine.

Italy and Poland have reported shortfalls in gas flowing from Russia.

Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy later confirmed the company was taking more gas than had been originally agreed due to the record cold snap that has gripped the country, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The company promised Ukraine's gas consumption would return to the agreed amount by the end of the month.

Russia's fresh accusation of Ukraine tapping gas for European customers came less than a month after the two countries ended a bitter, months-long dispute over gas supply with a deal that dramatically hiked the price of Russian gas supplied to Ukraine.

Source: Xinhua