REUTERS
Claims against Russia for US$5 billion over the seizure of Naftogaz's Crimean assets remain in force.
Executive Director of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko says that his company is ready to withdraw a new Stockholm arbitration claim to recover US$12 billion from Russia's Gazprom if a new contract for transit supplies of Russian natural gas via Ukraine to Europe has been concluded.
"An option of the 'package' settlement suggests that there will be a settlement agreement, according to which Gazprom will pay in fact US$3 billion in money, taking into account fines and all interest that were accrued under the Stockholm arbitration award. It will also be an agreement on the settlement of current arbitration litigation that is ongoing between Naftogaz and Gazprom," Vitrenko said.
"If we are talking about claims in a new arbitration case, then the package with the extension of transit shipments will have an option that suggests the full settlement of all claims from all sides. This means that there will be no open claims on either side after this package solution has been introduced," Vitrenko said.
At the same time, he stressed that claims against Russia for US$5 billion over the seizure of Naftogaz's Crimean assets after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula remain in force as they are not part of the current deal.
"As for the arbitration concerning the assets of Naftogaz in Crimea. This is not mentioned in any way in this protocol [signed by the Ukrainian and Russian sides], it is a separate process whose party the Russian Federation is as a defendant in relevant lawsuits launched by Naftogaz. And this is not mentioned in the protocol," Vitrenko said.
As UNIAN reported, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev in early January 2019 said that his company was ready to review or give up a new lawsuit against Gazprom for US$12 billion in the Stockholm arbitration if the Russian company agrees to conclude a long-term transit contract. According to him, the main basis of this claim is the Ukrainian gas transportation system's loss of value over the fact that Gazprom will have bypass routes and will thus fail to fulfill its obligations before Naftogaz regarding the use of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.