MOSCOW, January 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom accused Ukraine Thursday of causing Europe's 326-million cu m shortfall in natural gas supplies during January 19-25, saying it tapped up to 80 million cu m of additional gas per day.

"Ukraine's extra tapping of Russian natural gas reached 80 cu m daily," Gazprom said in a statement. "As a result, Ukraine used 326 million cu m of the natural gas destined for European consumers during January 19-25."

Gazprom said Ukraine was the only transit country that blatantly violated the international norms of the natural gas business.

"In a situation when the severely cold conditions affected practically all the European countries, Ukraine is using its position as a transit country to ensure the extra supplies of gas at the expense of consumers in Europe by exceeding illegally, not only its own quotas, but also tapping into additional supplies of Russian gas to Europe," the statement quoted Gazprom's Deputy Chairman Alexander Ananenkov as saying.