Russia and Ukraine make unexpected progress towards resolving gas row

Russia and Ukraine may unexpectedly be nearer to an agreement on resolving the issue of gas supplies this winter following talks in Milan.

That possibility was wholly unexpected on the basis of the initial indications following meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Ukrainian counterpart and the leaders of France and Germany.

The Kremlin initially stated that the contacts were “full of misunderstandings and disagreements".

Those remarks were echoed by German chancellor Angela Merkel. In fact, at one point Merkel is reported to have scolded Putin after he gave a speech in which he raised doubts over the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Nevertheless, after a follow-up meeting Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, claimed that “limited progress” had been made on the gas issue.

“We have the first limited progress on the gas issue. We have agreed on the main parameters of the contract."

Furthermore, he added that all sides involved continued to be committed to the cease-fire in Ukraine.

Putin and Poroshenko were scheduled to meet later on Friday while EU officials indicated that the contacts would continue next week, in Brussels.