REUTERS
Russia withdraws its claims, while Ukraine does not violate the obligation not to conclude settlement agreements in investment arbitrations, according to which Ukraine had to pay the investor any compensation.
Ukraine and Russia's Gazprom have signed a settlement agreement, according to which Ukraine drops its $7.4 billion fine imposed by the Antimonopoly Committee on the Russian company, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine Ivan Lishchyna wrote on Facebook.
"Ukraine and Gazprom sign a settlement agreement in investment arbitration. I cannot disclose the details of the agreement, since it is confidential, but it is important that Russia withdraws its claims, and we do not violate our rule not to conclude settlement agreements in investment arbitrations, according to which Ukraine must pay the investor any compensation," the official wrote.
Lishchyna noted that the conclusion of the agreement opens the path for signing long-term gas transit agreements between Naftogaz and Gazprom.
Read alsoUkraine, Russia complete four-day transit talks in Vienna
As UNIAN reported earlier, on December 28, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the signing of a settlement agreement with the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. Minister of Justice Denys Malyuska is authorized to sign it.
Following trilateral negotiations in the Ukraine-EU-Russia format, December 20, Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection Oleksiy Orzhel said that a protocol was signed that provided for the parties to fulfill a number of agreements.
In particular, a new contract for the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine will be concluded for a period of five years with the possibility of extension for ten years.
Naftogaz has already received from Gazprom about $2.9 billion in compensation under the Stockholm arbitration award.
In addition, according to the protocol signed between representatives of the EU, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation, as well as Gas TSO of Ukraine LLC, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, and Gazprom, by December 29, 2019, Gazprom and Ukraine must conclude an irrevocable settlement agreement within the framework of case No. 2019-10 Gazprom v. Ukraine, which is currently being considered by the arbitration court in Geneva.
Such an agreement will include the termination by Ukraine of all current and possible future claims to Gazprom, based on the decisions of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the Commercial Court of Kyiv, which were adopted in 2016.