KIEV, Jan. 11 – Ukraine on Sunday signed an agreement allowing Russian experts to join the European Union’s monitors inspecting Ukrainian gas pipelines, a condition imposed by Moscow for resuming gas supplies to the European Union.

Russia, which said the agreement is the key for resuming natural gas supplies to the EU via Ukrainian pipelines, said later Sunday it had not yet received the signed copy.

The development is the latest in Russian-Ukrainian natural gas standoff that had led to the disruption of gas supplies to the European Union in the morning of January 7.

This is the second agreement that Ukraine has signed over the past four days as the country has been seeking ways that would reopen supplies of Russian gas to the EU.

Ukraine signed a similar accord – drafted jointly with the European Union - on Thursday, but Russia had rejected the accord, insisting that all parties must sign the agreement drafted by Russia.

The agreement allows Russian specialists to join the group of EU monitors inspecting the Ukrainian gas pipelines, gas compressor plants and underground gas tanks.

“Ukraine today signed the agreement, similar to the one that had been earlier signed by the EU and Ukraine,” Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said at a press conference late Sunday after a meeting with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. “Today, Ukraine signed the protocol allowing the monitors to access the territory of Ukraine, UkrTransGaz.”

The Czech Republic, which accepted the rotating EU presidency on January 1, and Topolanek has been making efforts to negotiate resumption of gas supplies to the EU.

Meanwhile, Igor Sechin, the Russian deputy prime minister, told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev later Sunday that the Russian government had not yet received the copy of the signed agreement, suggesting further delays in supplies of gas to the EU.

“As of 16:00 Moscow time we still do not have the agreement with signatures of our partners,” Sechin told Medvedev in comments aired by the Russian television.

It may take up to 36 hours for Russia to resume supplies of its natural gas to the EU via Ukraine once Russia considers its conditions had been met by Ukraine and the EU, Russian officials have said.

Ukraine’s gas transportation system has been working in emergency mode since January 7 when Russian gas giant Gazprom – without a notice - had stopped gas transit to the EU.

The move sent shockwaves throughout Europe with major gas supply disruptions reported in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia and Moldova.

Ukraine’s gas pipeline account for 80% of Russian Europe-bound gas shipments, underscoring the importance of the supply disruption. Russia accounts for a quarter of Europe’s gas needs. (sb/ez)