国际英语新闻：Belarus to stop supply to Europe in "gas war" with Gazprom

Caught in the gas row, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, was mulling over an emergency meeting to settle the gas debt disputes.

The RIA Novosti reported Commission spokeswoman Marlene Holzner saying the Commission would hold a working meeting with Belarus.

Holzner said earlier Tuesday the gas cuts might affect 6.25 percent of consumption volumes of the European Union.

Spokesman for the European Commission Delegation in Moscow Denis Daniilidis told the Interfax news agency Tuesday the European Union was also exploiting alternative routes to import natural gas from Russia bypassing Belarus.

Holzner on Monday said Lithuania, which fully depended on gas deliveries via Belarus, would be most affected following the gas suspension. Poland and Germany might also be indirectly affected.

Belarus is a transit country for part of Russian gas exports to Europe. A similar dispute between Moscow and Kiev early last year left some European countries short of heating fuel in deep winter.