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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Russia and Ukraine Strike Gas Deal


MOSCOW — Russian and Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday agreed to settle a dispute over Ukraine's gas debt, avoiding a threatened cutoff in supplies that had rattled consumers in the European Union.
"We have agreed that Ukraine will start paying off the debt starting Thursday," Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said at a news conference after four hours of talks at the Kremlin.
The agreement was announced a few minutes after 6 p.m., the time Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom had set for cutting off Russian gas to Ukraine if the dispute was not settled.
Gas prices are one of the most controversial issues of our time. Currently
gas prices are rising in the United States, but since Russia settled a dispute
with Ukrain the problems with the United States faced could never possibly
occur.

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