EU leaders to confront Putin over gas threats (Source Yahoo) Vladimir Putin meets his Ukrainian counterpart and EU leaders here on Friday fresh from warning he could pull the plug on crucial Russian gas supplies to Western Europe this winter. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped the breakfast meeting with the Russian leader would help shore up a patchy ceasefire between his government forces and pro-Moscow rebels in the east of Ukraine. “Peace and stability in Ukraine, it is the only thing we expect,” Poroshenko told reporters after talks with Angela Merkel. The German Chancellor went to have a late night meeting with Putin, who upped the stakes in his confrontation with the West by warning that the flow of Russian gas to EU countries could face “major transit difficulties” this winter. The diplomatic shuttling over Ukraine is taking place on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe (ASEM) summit that has been completely overshadowed by the crisis, which has deepened in recent days. Putin has this week accused US President Barack Obama of outright hostility towards Russia and insisted he would not be blackmailed by the West. The Russian president has also played his gas trump card, effectively reminding Europe that it gets about a third of its supplies from Russia. Putin insisted he did not want to see a repeat of 2006 and 2009 when interruptions of supplies to Ukraine disrupted onward deliveries to Europe which gets about a third of its gas from Russia. The ASEM summit brings together more than 50 member states who share one of the world’s largest trading relationships at a time of growing uncertainty over the economic outlook. Those problems showed themselves Thursday as the financial markets sold off sharply once again on fears over Europe’s stalled recovery and a

Slowdown in China, which for so long has been the driver of global growth.