Moscow has warned Kiev that it will cut gas supplies if Ukraine fails to repay its debt of some $2 billion, which could affect transits to Europe.
"Europe has enough opportunity to influence Ukraine to ensure the transit of gas," Sergei Shmatko said, warning the EU of "the decisions being made by Ukraine."
The head of Ukraine's national energy company Naftogaz, Oleh Dubyna, remains hopeful that Ukraine and Russia will manage to reach a compromise in their gas dispute.
"A condition for 2009 signing contracts is Naftogaz's payment for gas imports. We do not rule out that we could find a mutually-acceptable compromise during talks," Ukraine's UNIAN news agency quoted Dubyna as saying.
Russia has suggested paying its gas transit fees in advance to Ukraine as part of a scheme to help the country pay off its debt for Russian-supplied gas.
A senior Ukrainian official said on Monday that the country would not siphon off gas destined for Europe in the event of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom cutting off supplies.
"Ukraine will tap no gas after January 1," said Oleksandr Shlapak, the first deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential secretariat.
He also assured European Union consumers that they could rely on the transit of Russian gas to the EU market, saying there were 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas in Ukraine's storage systems.
