KIEV, June 23 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s gas monopoly Naftogaz has not ruled out the possibility of revising its transit contract with Russia through legal proceedings, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev said Monday.
“We have not been able to get our Russian counterparts to make changes to the transit contract in the past few years, which is grounds for considering shifting this question to another platform, perhaps Stockholm arbitration,” Kobolev told the press.
On June 16, following Gazprom’s switch to a prepayment scheme for Russian gas supplies, Naftogaz turned to the Stockholm arbitration court to contest the price for natural gas deliveries from Russia. Specifically, the Ukrainian state-owned company is seeking to recover some $6 billion from Gazprom it claims to have overpaid since 2010.
The same day, Gazprom announced it is suing Naftogaz to recover its debt, which is currently $4.458 billion. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said other lawsuits against Naftogaz could follow, as the Ukrainian counterpart is in breach of several contract terms.
Last week, speaking at the International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said many legal disputes are expected to arise between the Russian and Ukrainian companies, but arbitration processes are better than tyranny and the use of force.
