On January 19, Russian natural gas giant Gazprom and Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy signed a ten-year gas supply and transit agreement which is expected to bring to an end the gas dispute between the two countries.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after the signing ceremony that gas transit to Europe was to be resumed in the immediate future.
For her part, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko stated that Ukraine expected Russia to resume delivering gas across its territory to Europe in a matter of hours, adding that in turn Ukraine would resume gas transit without delay as soon as Russian gas enters its pipeline system.
Although the price Ukraine will pay for gas was not disclosed, Russia has agreed to give Ukraine a 20 percent price discount for 2009, with Ukraine agreeing to accept a lower transit fee than the average European level for shipping Russian gas across its territory to Europe.
Russia and Ukraine have had disputes of varying severity over gas every year starting since the end of 2004.