Ukraine's Antimonopoly Body Drafts Forced $3Bln Recovery Lawsuit From Gazprom

The Anti-Monopoly Committee (AMC) of Ukraine has prepared a lawsuit on the forced recovery of $3 billion from the Russian natural gas company Gazprom, the committee chair said Friday.

KIEV (Sputnik) – In January, the AMC fined Gazprom 85 billion hryvnia ($3 billion) for abusing its dominance in the Ukrainian gas transit market. Gazprom challenged the fine in the Kiev Economic Court. The case was dismissed, prompting the Russian company to lodge an appeal with the Supreme Economic Court.

"The Anti-Monopoly Committee's decision on Gazprom's fine is to be completed. If the decision is not carried out by Gazprom voluntarily, there will be a court appeal on the forced recovery of this fine," AMC head Yuriy Terentyev said at a press briefing.

He said the committee has drafted the relevant documents, but declined to specify the date when the appeal was expected to be lodged.

"The materials have been prepared, I cannot name the exact date," the anti-monpoly chief said.

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