Ukraine and Russia have signed an agreement to create a joint venture to deliver Russian and Central Asian gas to Ukraine.
The agreement ended a bitter price dispute between the two countries, which led to a brief Russian cut off of natural gas deliveries to Ukraine New Year's Day.
Under the deal, the new venture, UkrGazEnergo will oversee gas sales to Ukrainian consumers. It will be co-owned by Naftogaz Ukraine and RosUkrEnergo, which is controlled by Russia's giant natural gas monopoly Gazprom and a group of unidentified investors.
The agreement calls for Ukraine to pay Russia $95 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas - nearly twice as much as the previous rate but less than the amount originally charged by Gazprom.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
