The newly appointed Czech Presidency of the European Union reached a late night agreement Thursday with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for deployment of E.U. monitors in Ukraine in a move to restore natural gas deliveries to Europe, an E.U. statement said.
"The Czech Prime Minister and the Russian Prime Minister agreed on the conditions of deployment of the monitoring commission at all locations that are relevant for the flow of gas," the statement said, adding that this deployment should lead to the restoration of Russian supplies of gas to E.U. Member States.
Also, a source close to the matter told Dow Jones Newswires that the monitors will be in place Friday.