Putin travels to Ukraine for gas talks today

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych today in Yalta, the Kremlin reported yesterday. A Putin advisor said that while talks would take place on natural gas supplies to Ukraine, no agreements were expected to be signed in that area. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller will be among the delegation.

Brad Wells: Substantial progress on a new gas agreement or discount, as Ukrainian authorities have been pushing, still looks a long way off. Both sides have been digging in their heels since spring – with the Ukrainian government threatening to slash gas imports to 35 bcm this year (from 45 bcm in 2011) and Russia even going so far as to say three weeks ago it was not in talks with Ukraine on a new gas discount. We see little to no substantive news on the gas issue developing until later this year.