Moscow and Kiev yesterday signed a five-year agreement on the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine. The deal finalized after months of difficult talks but just ahead of a looming New Year deadline. The current gas transit deal between the two ex-Soviet countries expires today. The ties between them have been shredded since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and supported a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.<br />''<span style="color: #222222;"><br />''Some 18 per cent of the European Union's annual natural gas consumption comes from Russia via Ukraine. The current contract between Russia and Ukraine was signed following the last gas crisis which ended up disrupting European supplies in 2010.</span><br />