Putin tells EU to help Ukraine pay gas bills

02 November 2009 - 16H36

Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen (right) shakes hands with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin said the European Union should "open its wallet" with a loan to Ukraine to help the country pay its gas bills to Russia.

AFP - The European Union should "open its wallet" with a loan to Ukraine to help the country pay its gas bills to Russia, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"If there are problems, we ask our partners to help Ukraine. Let Europe slip them a cool billion," Putin said after talks with his Danish counterpart Lars Loekke Rasmussen.

"Let it (Europe) open its wallet. It has the money," Putin added.

Putin's warning came after Russian gas supplies were cut off to more than a dozen European countries for two weeks in January as part of a bitter dispute over payments and prices between Moscow and Kiev.