The prime ministers of Ukraine and Russia said on Sunday they had reached an outline deal to restore disrupted gas supplies, while the European Union said it was waiting to see gas actually flowing on to Europe. The row between the two ex-Soviet neighbors enraged the EU by leaving large parts of Europe without gas in the middle of the winter, and eroded Russia's and Ukraine's credibility as gas supplier and transit route respectively. But Czech Industry Minister Martin Riman, speaking for the EU, said, “We remain realistic. Over the past few days we have seen several similarly hopeful moments. For the time being it is not clear when this resumption takes place.” The dispute, the worst in an annual tug-of-war over prices between Ukraine and Russia, has pushed European consumers and policymakers to think hard about building new gas routes to cut their heavy reliance on Russian supplies. “Gas transit, the Ukrainian side assured us, will be restored very soon,” Russian state channel Vesti-24 showed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin saying in a brief statement after the marathon talks, which lasted into the small hours of Sunday morning. After a bruising dispute that began on Jan. 1, analysts said there were few winners. “We will see that Europe is going to review all its energy policies pretty deeply,” said Ronald Smith, chief strategist at Alfa Bank in Moscow. “Russia has suffered some reputational damage.” Full details of the new agreement were not given. Neither premier spelled out the agreed gas price. However, it was not clear which European market prices would be applied and what formulas would be used to determine them. Putin said Moscow had agreed to give Ukraine a 20 percent discount from the price European consumers pay, on condition Kiev froze tariffs for Russian gas transit to Europe across Ukraine in 2009 at last year's level. “We also agreed that, starting Jan. 1, 2010, we will fully move to gas prices and transit tariffs in line with European levels, without any reductions and discounts,” Putin said.
