Gas deliveries to Europe to be resumed within hours

The stage is set for a resumption of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe after shuttle diplomacy by the Czech prime minister Mirek Topolánek secured both sides’ agreement to a deal on deploying international monitors as a means of preventing foul play in the transit system. Russia put its signature to the agreement on Saturday, Ukraine on Sunday. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said supplies to Europe could begin immediately after monitoring began, but it could take up to three days to restore gas supplies to full volume across Europe. Prime Minister Topolánek said deployment of the monitoring team would take no more than a few of hours. A raging pricing and payment dispute between Moscow and Kiev resulted in a complete halt of supplies to Europe last Wednesday, sparking a serious energy crisis in states that are fully dependent on Russian natural gas.