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President George W. Bush told Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek he supported EU diplomatic efforts to ensure a resumption of Russian natural gas deliveries to Europe via Ukraine, the White House said Saturday.
"The president welcomed the Czech-led EU efforts to help resolve the energy crisis by ensuring natural gas begins flowing again from Russia to Ukraine and Europe," national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement.
It was the first time Bush had weighed in on the crisis that has caused dramatic gas shortages in countries west of Ukraine, notably in central Europe and the Balkans.
The phone call between Bush and Topolanek came as Moscow and the European Union signed an accord Saturday to monitor Russian gas shipments to Europe, piling pressure on transit country Ukraine to accept the deal that would resume supply to gas-starved countries.
The agreement was signed after Topolanek -- representing the EU during the 6-month Czech presidency of the union -- held a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and later said that getting Kiev to sign "shouldn't be a problem."
The Czech prime minister, who met Ukrainian leaders in Kiev on Friday, was to fly back to Ukraine where he was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko later Saturday in a flurry of shuttle diplomacy by the EU leader.
On Wednesday, US national security advisor Stephen Hadley said Russia would compromise its hopes of gaining more global influence if it continues to "threaten its neighbors and manipulate their access to energy."
