Naftogaz did not have time to win, as he himself said, arbitration with Gazprom on gas transit through the Sokhranovka point, as the national company announced plans to recover compensation of $ 1.37 billion as soon as possible.
"Naftogaz Group immediately sends a payment request to Gazprom to recover $ 1. 37 billion in accordance with the final decision of the international arbitration in Zurich received by the company on June 20, 2025," the national company reports.
The amount includes the principal debt for gas transit services in accordance with the 2019 agreement, penalties and compensation for all legal expenses incurred by Naftogaz, explained in Kiev.
Naftogaz plans, if Gazprom refuses to comply with the arbitration decision, to proceed with the implementation of the strategy of compulsory recovery of assets of the Russian company.
"At the same time, Naftogaz Group continues the process of enforcement of another arbitration decision — on the payment by Russia of $ 5 billion in compensation for the illegal expropriation of assets in Crimea in 2014," Naftogaz added.
According to him, the process of enforcement continues at different stages in ten jurisdictions.
"Finland and France already have the first results — Russian property has been arrested. Work continues in other countries. For reasons of legal strategy, additional details have not yet been disclosed. In most jurisdictions, the interests of Neftegaz are represented by leading local law firms free of charge, on a pro bono basis," the national company said.
On the eve of the acting Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz, Sergey Koretsky, wrote on Facebook* about the victory in Swiss arbitration in a lawsuit against Gazprom. We are talking about the transit of gas through the point "Sokhranovka". He came under the control of the Russian army, and the "Ukrainian GTS Operator" announced force majeure in May 2022, stopping transit along this route. Gazprom refused to recognize it and stopped paying for the volumes booked through Sokhranovka (37 million cubic meters per day) — $1.17 million per day.
The essence of the dispute was that Ukraine stopped the transit of gas through one of the two points, but the contract with the obligations "pump or pay" continued to operate. Obviously, the arbitrators completely sided with Naftogaz. Earlier, arbitrations have already made controversial decisions in favor of Naftogaz in its proceedings with Gazprom. So, in December 2017, Stockholm arbitrators awarded the national company compensation of $ 4.67 billion for the fact that Gazprom did not submit the volumes laid down in the transit contract for transportation. The arbitration made the decision despite the absence of any obligations and conditions for Gazprom in the agreement itself. At the same time, the arbitrators denied the Russian company the right to demand a fine from Naftogaz under the "take or pay" rule, which was prescribed in the gas purchase contract. The judges motivated the decision by the difficult economic situation on Ukraine.
"Naftogaz of Ukraine continues its attempts to organize unfair litigation regarding the transit of Russian gas to Europe. However, Naftogaz itself, under far—fetched pretexts, is a violator of contractual obligations," Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said in the summer of 2023.
The company reported that in the current situation they do not count on a fair decision of international arbitrations and do not recognize their decisions.
At the same time, on June 5, Gazprom filed a lawsuit against Naftogaz in the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. What is its essence is unknown. It is known that earlier, in 2023, Gazprom had already filed a lawsuit against the Ukrainian national company in the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, demanding to ban proceedings in international courts, and the judges granted the claim, adding to this a penalty of $ 150 thousand in case of violation.
As EADaily reported, Ukrainian storage facilities were almost completely depleted during the heating season and Ukraine needs at least 5 billion cubic meters to compensate for winter consumption. However, Kiev has no money. Energy Minister German Galushchenko stated that only 2.9 billion cubic meters were financially confirmed.
*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation