Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's president, has told European Union officials he will ensure Russian gas flows to Europe this winter.

After talks in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Friday, Yushchencko said there would be no replay of last winter's cut in supplies to its western neighbours.

A pricing dispute in January between Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled natural gas producer, and Ukraine saw the company suspend supplies to EU nations through Ukraine for two weeks.

"Ukraine will manage to secure the functions of Russian gas transit," Yushchenko said, adding that the system of Russian transit tariffs should be made fair.

Fredrik Reinfeld, the Swedish prime minister whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said: "We asked all those engaged to solve their bilateral problems and to be predictable as a supplier of energy."

Gazprom said on Friday that Ukraine had paid its gas bill for November on time, easing fears of a repeat of the crisis.

Europe receives around 20 per cent of its gas from Russia, most of it via pipelines that cross Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, agreed to revise the terms of a contract between Russia and Ukraine at a meeting last month with Yulia Tymoshenko, his Ukrainian counterpart, lowering the amount of gas Kiev must buy next year.

The move came as a relief for Ukraine, which has been hit hard by the global economic crisis and has drastically cut its gas consumption.