The two former Soviet republics signed a natural gas deal. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Ukraine for an official visit on Nov. 19, as energy officials from the two former Soviet republics signed a natural gas deal. An energy agreement pushed by Putin and Tymoshenko was made public on Thursday as well, with officials from Ukraine's natural gas monopoly Naftohaz Ukrainy announcing the signing of a contract with the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom setting out specific volumes of fuel to be shipped through Ukraine to European consumers in 2010. Read ther story here.