REUTERS
In late February 2018, Gazprom lost a lawsuit filed by Naftogaz, and now owes the Ukrainian company US$2.6 billion.
Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov says Naftogaz must abandon its victory over Gazprom in the Stockholm Arbitration to reach new agreements on the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.
"Russia's position was stated yesterday. Of course, the point is that no judicial claims should be on the agenda if we're talking about reaching an agreement," Peskov told journalist on October 29, responding to the question, whether it is the Kremlin's condition for new contracts on Russian gas transit via Ukraine that Kyiv give up on its victory over Gazprom in the Stockholm Arbitration.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine has not imported gas from Russia since November 2015.
Read alsoNaftogaz preparing new lawsuit against Gazprom
At the end of February 2018, Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom lost a lawsuit filed by Naftogaz with the Stockholm Arbitration over a gas transit contract. Gazprom was obliged to pay US$4.6 billion to the Ukrainian side.
At the same time, taking into account the arbitration award on the gas supply contract, the final amount of settlements between the two companies is US$2.6 billion in favor of Naftogaz.
Against the backdrop of their loss, Gazprom announced their intention to terminate via court its contracts with Ukraine for the supply and transit of gas.
In March 2018, Gazprom officially notified Naftogaz of their refusal to comply with the arbitration award.
In the summer of 2018, Naftogaz filed a new lawsuit with the Stockholm Arbitration seeking a revision of the gas transit tariff under a contract with Gazprom.
Naftogaz has been demanding the revision of the tariff from March 2018 (to the end of 2019). The company tentatively estimated its claims at about US$12 billion.
On October 28 in Brussels, trilateral negotiations were held on gas transit via the territory of Ukraine after January 1, 2020. The previous meeting took place on September 19.
Following the consultations on gas transit, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak Russian told Rossiya-24 TV said that Ukraine had not yet formed an official position on the possibility of resolving the Gazprom-Naftogaz litigation before the end of 2019.
"Our Ukrainian partners have not yet formed an official position. We hope that our position will be taken into account. Our colleagues from the European Commission also support that it is necessary to regulate all this in a package. Therefore, we will be working in this direction. We will continue to look for ways with our colleagues," Novak said when asked if the parties were ready to solve all judicial issues by the end of the year.