REUTERS
If they are successful, Naftogaz will start receiving funds tentatively from April.
Executive Director of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko says major court hearings to recover about US$3 billion in debt from Russia's gas giant Gazprom under the Stockholm Arbitration award will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on December 4.
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"Tomorrow [December 3], I'm going to Amsterdam where major court hearings will be held the day after tomorrow [December 4] to recover about US$3 billion from Gazprom. If they are successful, we will be able to start receiving funds tentatively from April, that is, in a few months," he wrote on Facebook on December 2.
According to Vitrenko, the situation around the tripartite talks on both gas transit and arbitration is complicated, but Ukraine's position remains unchanged.
"Therefore, it is important not to lose vigilance, but to keep calm. Our position is unchanged. We are constructive and flexible [in talks with Russia], but we should stick to European rules. We also cannot set aside arbitration awards, both those we've won and the new ones. We're not going to halt the enforcement procedure either," he added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine has not imported gas from Russia since November 2015.
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.
In March 2018, Gazprom officially notified Naftogaz of their refusal to comply with the arbitration award. In late May, Naftogaz began the process of forcing the US$2.6 billion debt from Gazprom in foreign courts.
The recovery process is under way in England, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Among the assets of interest to the Ukrainian side are the shares of companies operating the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.