Business Development Director of Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko belies Ukraine has high chances to achieve a positive ruling in the lawsuit against Gazprom in the Stockholm arbitration.
"We are at the finish line," he wrote on 3 August on his Facebook page.
"Our position is very strong, considering that even President VladimirPutin with Gazprom had to backtrack on their statements that they will not need our gas system for the transit of their gas. You realize that Putin would not give up his favorite propaganda thesis that Russia will not depend on Ukraine. However, we consider this change of stance by Putin and Gazprom to be a legal trick. We are confident that we will prove it in arbitration," Vitrenko wrote.
In his opinion, the arbitration decision is expected to be issued before the end of the first half of next year, while the ruling on the contract for the supply of gas previously expected before the end of the first quarter.
Gazprom would have to execute this decision immediately. The comparison with Yukos' claim is inappropriate. Gazprom's assets are not protected by national sovereignty and it has enough assets in Europe that could be used for penalty, Vitrenko said.
Gazprom accuses Naftogaz of a shortfall on the contracted volumes of gas. Naftogaz accuses Gazprom in in defaults on transit. Gazprom's claims amount to 38.7bn dollars, the amount of Naftogaz claims is at 26.6bn dollars.