Belgrade  - Serbia could start receiving Russian gas at the earliest on Tuesday afternoon, but it will take at least three days to normalize gas system, Serbian officials said Monday.

Serbian Energy Minister Petar Skundric said it will take between 12 to 24 hours for the gas to reach Serbia.

Dusan Bajatovic, the head of Serbia's gas company Srbijagas, said it will take 72 hours, from the moment Ukraine releases the gas, for the local system to fully normalize.

Russia and Ukraine signed a deal Monday, 12 days after Moscow shut off gas deliveries saying Kiev was stealing gas from transit.

The gas crisis hit Serbia particularly hard since it has no gas storage and depends completely on Russian gas.

Hundreds of thousands of homes were left without heating during a freezing weather since the gas dispute began.

Belgrade arranged expensive emergency supplies from Hungary and Germany but only for priority consumers and the industry had to be shut down immediately.

Srbijagas warned that Belgrade would raise the question of "responsibility" with both Ukraine and Russia since the gas dependent industry suffered heavy losses, estimated at some 35 million dollars. (dpa)