Ukraine’s Top Court Dismisses Gazprom’s Appeal to Review $3Bln Recovery Rulings

Ukraine’s top court has dismissed an appeal filed by the Russian energy company Gazprom to review the country's lower court rulings on the forced recovery of $3 billion, a court official told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

KIEV (Sputnik) – The Anti-Monopoly Committee (AMC) of Ukraine said last month it drafted a lawsuit to recover 85 billion hryvnia ($3 billion) from Gazprom for allegedly abusing its dominance in the Ukrainian gas transit market. Both the Kiev Economic Court and the Supreme Economic Court sided against Gazprom in their decisions.

"A ruling was issued yesterday [Tuesday, September 20] on the refusal to open proceedings at Supreme Court deliberations of Gazprom’s appeal," the official said.

In December 2015, AMC chief Yuriy Terentyev said that Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz had suffered an estimated $6 billion in alleged damages as a result of Gazprom's abuse of its monopoly over gas transit in the country. Gazprom called the move a pressure tactic, arguing that it does not conduct any business on Ukrainian territory because it transfers gas to Naftogaz at the Ukrainian-Russian border.