New Russia-Ukraine gas row threatens Europe again?

A delegation from Ukraine has arrived in Moscow to hold new talks on gas prices ahead of the two Prime Ministers' meeting later in January.

Ukraine is raising the issue of intermediaries in gas sales and is believed to be looking for a five fold increase in transit fees.

This comes as Gazprom has announced that a shortage of central Asian gas is forcing it to supply Ukraine with more expensive Russian gas.

The Ukrainian delegation will be met in Moscow with a new debt claim of $US 830 million.

Analysts say that it is not in the interests of Gazprom and Ukraine's economy for problems to escalate.