Russia and Ukraine have signed a five-year, $7 billion deal on the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe following intense negotiations ahead of a year-end deadline.
The deal, negotiated in Vienna, was confirmed by the respective Russian and Ukrainian state gas companies, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a social-media post on December 30.
The current agreement was set to expire on December 31, risking Europe’s vital link to billions of cubic meters in gas from Russia via Ukrainian pipelines in the depths of winter.
About 40 percent of the 200 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas that Russia has sent to Europe annually has been transmitted via Ukraine’s vast network of pipelines.