East European Leaders To Meet In Ukraine: Slovakia

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is due to meet her Russian opposite number, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday in Moscow.

Senior east European officials will hold talks in Kiev on Friday on the disruption of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and European consumers, the office of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said.

A statement said the talks, on the eve of an energy "summit" proposed by Russia in Moscow, would involve Yushchenko, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic, Moldovan Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is due to meet her Russian opposite number, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday in Moscow to discuss how to restore gas flows curtailed since the New Year.

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko have spoken in favour of a summit involving Russia, Ukraine and European countries consuming Russian gas. But both have said such a meeting should take place at another location, inside the European Union.