Ukraine refuses to reconcile with Russia's Gazprom
The Director of Business Development of the Ukrainian company Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, stated that any reconciliation with regards to the ruling of the Stockholm Arbitration Court on the Naftogaz-versus-Gazprom case is impossible.
“It should have been negotiated before the final decision of the Arbitration Court. Now it is too late to ask for amicable agreement. According to the decision of the Arbitration Court, Gazprom should pay us $2.56 billion, plus $75 million interest, and also cover the cost of enforced debt recovery,” Vitrenko wrote on his Facebook page.
Naftogaz’s Director of Business Development stated that the company will continue seizing Gazprom’s assets around the world until Naftogaz receives all the necessary funds. According to Vitrenko, Naftogaz’s response to the Gazprom’s proposal to suspend arrests was a firm “no.”
Vitrenko indicated the possibility of an amicable agreement regarding the disputes with Gazprom on which the final decision has not yet been made. According to him, such an agreement is possible only Naftogaz receives the required funds.
“The amount of compensation that we are demanding from Gazprom in the new arbitration hearing is already over $12 billion,” Vitrenko stated. “Our demands are reasonable and we are confident in our legal position. If Gazprom wants an amicable agreement for these new arbitration proceedings, they can pay us this compensation out-of-court.”
Gazprom’s representative refused to comment on Vitrenko’s statements.
The Chairperson of Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolev, previously accused Gazprom of being a “smoke screen” used by Russia to cover the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline bypassing Ukraine.
“We can consider your proposals on an amicable agreement but they definitely should not prevent negotiations on the new contract and we are definitely not ready to do this in a trilateral format losing our partners and giving an opportunity to say that we are making deals while they are preparing a foothold for the Nord Stream 2,” Kobolev stated.