REUTERS
Naftogaz said the decision is temporary.
The decision of the Svea Court of Appeal (Sweden) on the suspension of the procedure for executing the Stockholm Arbitration's award in the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine over the gas transit contract will be challenged by Naftogaz in the near future.
Read alsoSwedish court suspends Stockholm Arbitration award in UA-RU gas transit dispute
"The decision was taken by the court without calling Naftogaz and, accordingly, without taking into account the explanations and arguments that would have been submitted by Naftogaz if the court had notified him of the existence of such a petition by Gazprom and the consideration of this issue by the court," the company's press service reported.
"The decision is temporary. The company will soon file its detailed explanations and counter-arguments to the court and expects that, taking them into account, the court will cancel the decision on suspension," the company added.
It is noted that the decision means that further actions of Naftogaz on the recovery procedure of $2.6 billion from Gazprom are temporarily suspended. "It does not lead to the cancellation of arbitration decisions and does not give Gazprom the opportunity to demand from Naftogaz a return of $2.1 billion already taken by the arbitrator's decision as compensation to Naftogaz," the company said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Gazprom lost a gas dispute with Naftogaz in the Stockholm arbitration court and was obliged to pay the Ukrainian company some $2.56 billion and supply up to 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year in 2018-2019 at prices in line with those at European gas hubs.
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Despite the defeat, Gazprom announced plans to terminate the contract with Ukraine for the supply and transit of gas, and lowered the pressure in the gas transmission system (GTS), which complicated gas transit shipments to Europe and caused a temporary gas shortage in the GTS (March 2-3).
After the gas crisis was successfully addressed, the European Commission stated that Ukraine had fulfilled all its gas transit obligations.
Late in March, Gazprom officially notified Naftogaz it would not implement the arbitration award.
On May 28, Gazprom said it had submitted an application for a complete reversal of the decision taken by the Stockholm Arbitration in the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine over the gas transit contract to the Svea Court of Appeal.
Today, June 14, Gazprom said that the Swedish court had suspended the execution of the Stockholm Arbitration award in the dispute over the contract on gas transit through the territory of Ukraine, according to which the Russian gas giant owes Ukraine $2.56 billion.