The European Union says Gazprom is insisting that Russians be included in the monitoring mission overseeing Russian natural gas as it flows through Ukraine pipelines.

Moscow’s insistence to have Russians checking the gas flow through Ukraine goes against an agreement the EU had with Kiev to limit the group to EU observers alone.

Agreement on an observer mission would speed up the return of gas supplies from Russia to Europe, which is suffering a bitter winter cold snap.

Ukrainian officials have denied Russian accusations that they have siphoned off gas intended for Europe, saying instead they needed to use some of the Russian gas to keep the pipelines running.