The dispute, that has been ongoing for almost 30 years, reached a new peak in June when Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine. As has happened before, the new crisis was caused by Ukrainian unpaid debts over gas supplies and, due to the fact that both Ukrainian and Russian governments have been reciprocally challenging over Ukrainian "military" crisis, the Kremlin was able to use the gas-issue as a non-lethal but still very powerful weapon.

As we stated in a previous analysis though, this crisis was bound to reach a conclusion, even if a temporary one: first of all, the agreement would help in to unwind already tense political relations; moreover, as many politicians believe, it would avoid a potential “humanitarian catastrophe”. 

Così, come recita l’accordo, il prezzo del gas è stato fissato a 378$ per 1000 metri cubi fino alla fine del 2014 e a 365$ fino alla fine del mese di marzo del 2015[1]. Inoltre, l’Ucraina ha accettato di pagare parte del suo debito[2]: 1,45 miliardi di dollari a pagamento immediato mentre altri 1,65 miliardi dovranno essere versati entro la fine dell’anno[3]. In tutto questo, un ruolo di rilievo sarà giocato dall’Unione Europea che garantirà «livelli di aiuto senza precedenti» per «un pacchetto invernale da 4,6 miliardi di dollari»[4].

Despite such new and positive developments, it's highly possible that a new crisis would burst out in the future: being gas a vital resource for both Russia and Ukraine, it is likely to become object of new quarrels should political relation worsen again.