Russia is ready to resume gas shipments through Ukraine, but only after a “test”:

MOSCOW) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the resumption of gas supplies to European Union clients on a test basis.
“We propose from 10:00 am tomorrow Moscow time (0700 GMT) to start test pumping of gas,” Putin was told by the head of the Gazprom energy giant, Alexei Miller, at a televised meeting.
“Agreed. Start working,” Putin responded.
Miller stressed that checks would be carried out to ensure that all the Russian gas transited through Ukraine across the border to EU states.
“The whole volume that Gazprom supplies on the Ukrainian border should arrive, 100 percent, on Ukraine’s western borders for our European clients,” Miller said.
“In case of unsanctioned syphoning of gas we will decrease volumes delivered by the volume stolen per 24 hours. Russia’s position on this has been conveyed to the European Commission,” Miller added.

But as the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out, Vlad is just being helpful in preparing the EU to cut their energy usage to help meet their CO2-emissions goals. Since Putin has now reduced worldwide carbon emissions by a number exponentially greater than Al Gore, maybe he’s eligible for the Nobel, too?