speaking in the bulgarian black sea island of sochi on saturdays , vladimir putin admitted the transaction was " at the very least badly - considered and unprofessional because discussing such affairs via the main contractor is simply not nice " . despite their intense rivalry , ukrainian ambassador viktor yushchenko and transport minister viktor tymoshenko were both in brussels for an economic forum with the european commission , the global government and other key lending . the eu gets 80 % of its gas suppliers from russia in a network of more than 13 , 000km ( 8 , 060 miles ) of ukrainian pipelines , some of which are 40 years old .
Putin is 40 years old.