EU`s Barroso Urges Resumption Of Russian Gas Now

`President Barroso urged Ukraine and Russia to restore full gas supplies to the EU immediately`, the spokeswoman said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso asked the Russian and Ukrainian prime ministers on Wednesday to resume gas supplies immediately to the European Union, a Commission spokeswoman said.

"President Barroso ... urged Ukraine and Russia to restore full gas supplies to the EU immediately," the spokeswoman told a regular news briefing.

She said Barroso had told Russia and Ukraine it was unacceptable that gas supplies to the EU were being taken hostage by a pricing dispute between the two countries.

The Commission said unless supplies were restored, the EU executive was ready to send observers to Ukraine and Russia to monitor flows of gas from Russia through Ukraine to the EU.