TODAY: Gazprom resumes gas supply to Europe but says Ukraine is blocking deliveries; Putin responds to Medvedev criticism; troubled times for NGOs in Russia; Freedom House report sparks debate on authoritarian states.

‘Everything is fine,’ said Gazprom, which resumed full exports to the European Union today, expecting gas to reach EU borders late tomorrow.  But new reports quote Gazprom as saying that Ukraine has blocked deliveries to Europe once again, with Ukraine insisting that Gazprom has switched the transit route.  ‘We don’t know what to do at the moment’. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin offered ‘my sympathy to the citizens of the European countries that suffered as a result of the so-called gas blackmail on the part of Ukraine’.  The Moscow Times outlines some of the disputed points in yesterday’s Ukrainian declaration, which is said to have stalled the agreement.  One analyst says that, until a long-term strategy is put into place, Europe will see a gas crisis every year.