Russian gas restored to Georgia

TBILISI - Russian gas has started to flow to Georgia again, a week after pipeline explosions cut supplies during the coldest winter in a decade.

The unexplained blasts in Russia also cut a major power line and high winds later in the week severed another cable, starving Georgia of electricity.

Georgians have been shivering around makeshift stoves, reduced to queuing for kerosene and foraging for wood, bringing back unwelcome memories of the chaos that plagued the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Russian gas has already crossed the Georgian border," Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli told reporters.

He added that some houses in Tbilisi would have gas from early this morning NZ time and expected supplies to the rest of the country to get back to normal during the day.

Temperatures in Georgia have been well below freezing, bitterly cold for a country better known for its vineyards and balmy Black Sea resorts.

Georgia has also agreed with Iran to bring gas via neighbouring Azerbaijan. "It is very important for us to keep that alternative source of gas supply," Nogaideli said.

The Georgian capital had electricity once more on Sunday, but officials warned it could be several days before the damaged power lines were mended to restore power to the whole country.

The gas emergency has damaged relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, already frosty since President Mikhail Saakashvili, who rose to power after a "Rose Revolution" in 2003, made it clear he wanted to align his country more closely with the West.

He accused Russia of deliberately blowing up the pipeline and then dragging its heels over repairs to put pressure on Georgia, a Caucasus state of 4.5 million people, to surrender ownership of its domestic network to Moscow.

Russia issued a sharp denial, calling Tbilisi hysterical and saying it was doing everything it could to finish repairs.

"The after-effects of the accident have been wholly eliminated. The pipeline started to be filled with gas ... immediately after the completion of repair work," Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom said in a statement.

Russia is the world's second largest oil exporter and provides a quarter of Europe's gas. But its reputation as a reliable supplier was shaken in the New Year after gas flows to Europe suffered when it cut Ukraine's supply over a pricing row.

Ukraine's pro-Western leadership has said Moscow was using its vast energy sources as a political weapon.

- REUTERS