Germany and central Europe were “bracing themselves” for cuts in gas supplies after Gazprom halved gas supplies to Ukraine. President Dmitry Medvedev has personally asked Ukrainian leader Viktor Yushchenko to settle the country’s gas debt to Moscow, saying “Russia is expecting Kiev to intensify efforts in solving its gas debt problem.” Yushchenko, in turn, told Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to restart talks with Moscow urgently. Meanwhile the International Energy Agency said Russia’s use of supply cuts to resolve a gas payments row with Ukraine was “excessively harsh” and urged the two countries to settle the dispute in a more commercial way. The US State Department has called for the countries to resolve the dispute “transparently”. Russia’s UN Ambassador is advising Iran that it suspend its nuclear enrichment program, and that it study the incentives to do so offered by the West. Iran labeled the latest round of UN sanctions “worthless”.