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Russia has assured European Union countries that they have nothing to fear from its move to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine over a payment dispute. The state energy company Gazprom sid it had actually increased the volume of gas flowing to the EU. Russia's latest shutdown of gas supplies to Ukraine has once again shown just how dependent the whole of Europe now is on Russian energy. Three years ago, an almost identical cut-off led to gas shortages as far away as France. This year, Europe is lucky. A mild winter means there are more gas supplies in reserve . And so far, Ukrain has stuck to its promise, not to disrupt flows across its territory to Europe. |