“The gas supplies are inadequate, Dmitry Linnik, from the London Bureau chief of Voice of Russia, said in an interview with Press TV, adding Despite the recently loaded deal with the Statoil, the Norwegian company, still Ukraine is going to have to be buying gas from Russia, and I guess the talks in Italy later this week are going to concentrate on both these issues - the ceasefire in east Ukraine... and of course the energy deal.”

In recent months, the Western states have imposed sanctions on Russia, including on its financial and energy sectors, putting a number of Russian nationals close to President Putin on a sanctions list.

In a tit-for-tat measure, Moscow also imposed year-long food bans on the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway in August. The move is estimated to cost European agricultural industries millions of dollars.

“The sooner the Ukrainian authorities, the European Union and the United States come to realize that there is not going to be a deal without any kind of Russia’s involvement, the better, “ the analyst added.  

Russia shut off gas deliveries to Ukraine in June, saying Kiev has not settled its debts. Ukraine is at the risk of facing gas shortages in the winter if the disagreement is not resolved.