Sofia - Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has called for a new EU energy policy in the wake of the ongoing gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

In a speech on national security Friday in Sofia, Parvanonv said that it was "important to build a dependable partnership" between the states of the Caspian littoral.

Parvanov added that the proposed Nabucco pipeline project, which would see gas distributed from the Caucasus without passing through Russian or Ukrainian territory, was not just about a physical project, but also about politics.

Berlin - The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine demonstrates to the world the need to diversify energy supplies, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Thursday.

Events of recent weeks showed how a commercial dispute could impact across Europe, Brown told a news conference after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Merkel urged Russia and Ukraine to return to the negotiating table and resolve their differences so that gas supplies could be resumed as quickly as possible.

Moscow/Kiev  - Ukraine's government is divided by internal differences over entering new talks with Russia to end the gas delivery impasse, news reports said Thursday.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency that a new round of talks on resuming gas transit to the European Union was scheduled for Saturday in Moscow.

However, President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday evening rejected the Kremlin's invitation a crisis summit with all gas-importing countries on Saturday as not suitable.

Brussels/Strasbourg, France  - The European Union on Wednesday threatened to ditch Russia and Ukraine as gas suppliers and to encourage legal action against their state-owned energy companies unless they immediately resume shipments to Europe.

"Russia and Ukraine are showing they are incapable of delivering on their commitments to some European member states," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Warsaw - Polish leaders met with their Ukrainian and Lithuanian counterparts Wednesday for talks centred on the fallout from an ongoing trade dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski met with his Ukrainian counterpart for an update on the row, which has effectively cut off gas supplies from Russia that would normally flow through Ukraine.

Kiev  - Ukraine's natural gas monopoly Naftogaz Ukrainy on Wednesday made Russia a detailed offer on Europe energy shipments, suggesting an immediate return to pre-crisis volumes.

Russia would, according to the terms of the proposal, send into Ukraine's national pipeline network 318 million cubic metres of gas daily, with 296 million cubic metres reaching European customers.

The difference, some 22 million cubic metres, would be used by Ukraine's pipeline system to maintain pressure.