Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Prague, January 7 (Interfax Central Europe) - Russian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Alexei Fedotov at a meeting Wednesday with Czech President Vaclav Klaus expressed his country's "strong political will" to resolve the current standoff with Ukraine over natural gas contracts.

"President Klaus today at Prague Castle received Ambassador Fedotov, who informed him about tomorrow's resumption of bilateral talks between Russia and Ukraine about restoring gas supplies," Klaus's spokesman Radim Ochvat said. "[Fedotov] assured him that the Russian Federation has strong political will to resolve the situation."

Wednesday afternoon Klaus will also speak by telephone with Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko on the subject, Ochvat added.

Gazprom supplies around a quarter of Europe's natural gas, 80% of which passes via Ukraine. State-controlled gas companies from neighboring Slovakia and the Czech Republic confirmed Wednesday that gas deliveries through Ukraine stopped completely overnight.