Russia and Ukraine stepped back from the brink once more on Wednesday and agreed to restart normal gas supplies. As far as one can tell from the murky negotiations, the two sides have not agreed on the precise mechanism for future deliveries, nor on the price to be paid. But they seem to have realised that their inability to agree a sensible commercial relationship damages both their reputations – Gazprom’s as a reliable energy supplier and Ukraine’s as a government capable of pursuing a coherent policy. So they will try again.

The rest of Europe – which, for all the reassurances to the contrary, would certainly have suffered the knock-on effects of the dispute in a matter of days – looks on with amazement and alarm.