The Russian-Ukrainian dispute over gas prices and transit fees came to an end when Russia, which controls over a quarter of the world’s gas, re-opened gas supplies in Central and Eastern Europe after cutting it off for three weeks.According to the BBC, the dispute affected several countries, including Bulgaria, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Bosnia, and Hungary.

Zlatana Nenova, a sophomore from Bulgaria, says that her country is dependent on Russia’s gas. When they have problems receiving gas, they are unable to sue Russia’s largest natural gas company, Gazprom.

“The prices of the gas were signed in Russia’s favor,” said Nenova. “When the gas went up, we can’t sue Gazprom, only the affiliated small firms. 99% of our gas is from Russia and we are very dependent on that. Western Europe is highly dependent on Russia’s gas.”

The European Union (E.U.) imports a quarter of their gas from Russia and 80% of those supplies come through Ukraine.

Eastern Europe relies almost entirely on Russia’s gas that is pumped through Ukraine.

According to The New York Times, industrial plants and domestic heating systems were shut down and had to find alternative sources of gas or switch energy plants into oil. People struggled to heat their homes and schools.

Officials from Russia, Ukraine, and the E.U. signed a deal that is aimed to allow resumption of Russian gas deliveries to European countries through Ukraine.

The officials who signed the deal were Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek.

Ken Gilmore, associate professor of political science, said that there have been problems with Russia and some of the ex-Soviet republics.

“Russia and a number of ex-Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, do not like each other,” said Gilmore. “At the same time, the U.S. and its NATO allies in Europe have been trying to draw the republics closer to Western Europe. Russia played its trump card and shut off the gas, and perhaps it was a warning to the incoming Obama administration.”

According to the BBC, Ukraine and Russia guaranteed that the routes to Europe would be unaffected; however, the issues between the countries resulted in supplies being cut and left hundreds of thousands of Europeans without heating since there were arguments about renewing an old contract.

Philip Slaby, assistant professor of history, said that these resources have been a constant issue throughout the years.

“Oil and fuel is an old fight,” said Slaby. “Russia wants to show their power especially to Eastern Europe. Russia didn’t want to be taken for granted, and the further east you go it’ll be harder to patch things up. Even in the late ’80s the Russian pipe lines had power over Europe.”

The new contract has Ukraine buying Russia’s gas and shipping it to other European countries.

The gas could take up to 36 hours to pump across Ukraine before reaching other countries down the pipeline.

According to The New York Times, until December Ukraine paid $179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters, but now they are paying $360 per 1,000 cubic meters. European customers pay about $450. While gas prices fall, Ukraine could pay as little as $150.

The deal lasts for 10 years; however, the fine print is unknown, which can to lead to the same disputes in the future.