MOSCOW/KIEV — Russia cut off the gas to its neighbor Ukraine on Thursday after a contract dispute but increased supplies to other European states to try to reassure customers worried about possible disruption. The European Union, which receives a fifth of its gas from pipelines crossing Ukraine, and the United States urged further negotiations to resolve the dispute and said all supply commitments must be met. Energy firms in Germany, France, Poland, Romania, Austria and Italy said they had not yet seen any drop in supply. Europe has enough gas stockpiled to manage without Russian gas for several days, though not weeks, analysts said. The row could raise new doubts about Moscow’s reliability as an energy supplier and fuel suspicions in the West — already running high since Russia’s war with Georgia last August — that the Kremlin bullies its pro-Western neighbors. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the target of fierce criticism from Moscow over his drive to take Ukraine into the NATO alliance, said he wanted to resume talks with Moscow to settle a row over payment arrears and gas prices for 2009. Yushchenko said in a statement he believed a compromise deal with Russian […]