Slovak PM: Russian Gas Supplies Down by Half

Slovak gas importer SPP registered a 50 percent cut in supplies of Russian gas late on Tuesday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Wednesday.

Fico told a televised news conference that the Russians have blamed technical reasons for the shortfall and he said that gas has become "a matter of political fight".

Fico said the cut in deliveries, bigger than the some 20 percent reduction seen in previous days, was observed at the Baumgarten hub in Austria. But the importer, SPP, said the reduction was observed at the Velke Kapusany entry point from Ukraine.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Michael Kahn)