Brussels  - Russian gas monopolist Gazprom refused on Thursday to renew gas supplies to Europe in return for a mission of European Union experts intended to monitor gas flows from the country through Ukraine, EU officials said.

"Gazprom said no to the mission. We are disappointed, because we believe the Russian side has no reason to refuse and not to allow the resumption of supplies through Ukraine to the EU," Czech energy minister Martin Riman, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, told reporters in Brussels.

Moscow/Brussels  - Russian gas monopolist Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz will sit for further face-to-face talks as soon as both leave Brussels on Thursday to fly to Moscow on the same airplane, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said.

"We flew to Brussels on the same flight. That is why we don't need to hold special talks in Brussels. We plan to fly to Russia together," Miller was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying in Brussels.

Moscow/Kiev - Russia and Ukraine held talks over a solution to the escalating gas dispute shortly before the beginning of an EU crisis meeting in Brussels, media reports said Thursday.

The heads of Russian state-owned Gazprom, Alexei Miller, and Ukraine's Naftogaz Oleg Dubina met in Moscow, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He did not give any details about the talks.

Kiev and Moscow are locked in a dispute over gas prices, with Gazprom accusing Ukraine of siphoning off supplies to EU markets since Russia stopped its gas deliveries to its neighbouring country last week.

Washington  - Russia's decision to cut off gas supplies to Europe because of a contract dispute with Ukraine is "unacceptable," the US State Department said Wednesday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin green-lighted a full stop of natural gas shipments to Europe through Ukraine, causing shortages on the continent at a time when heating demands increase to counter the chilly winter season.

"Cutting off these supplies during winter to vulnerable populations is just something that is unacceptable to us," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.

Moscow - Russia has rediscovered its image as a hungry bear as it blunders too far in the latest gas spat with Ukraine, forcing Europe from its benign disregard as temperatures plunge below zero.

The 2009 version of Russian export monopoly Gazprom's gas cuts is different from the 2006 standoff. Like so much else, it must be viewed through the prism of the global financial crisis and the critical blows this has dealt to the two warring parties.

The European Union on Wednesday warned Russia and Ukraine that they face long-term consequences unless they immediately resolve a dispute that has cut gas supplies to Europe and left some countries struggling to heat up homes over the winter.

"If the transit (of Russian gas through Ukraine) does not go as normal, we will have a real problem", and the EU will have to conclude that "we no longer consider the supply of gas from Russia through Ukraine as credible," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.