Russia Remains Ready For Amicable Settlement Of Gas Dispute With Ukraine - Energy Minister

Russia Remains Ready for Amicable Settlement of Gas Dispute With Ukraine - Energy Minister

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Thursday that Russia remains ready to peacefully resolve the gas dispute with Ukraine if Kiev takes reciprocal action.

BREST (Belarus) (UrduPoint news / Sputnik - 13th December, 2018) Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Thursday that Russia remains ready to peacefully resolve the gas dispute with Ukraine if Kiev takes reciprocal action.

"We have repeatedly said that we express readiness to settle this dispute, which is still ongoing before the court ... I think we are ready if there is consent and reciprocal action on the part of our colleagues," Novak said.

Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz have been entangled in litigation since June 2014, when Gazprom switched Ukraine to a prepayment scheme citing its massive gas debt.

In late February, the Stockholm arbitration partially satisfied Naftogaz claims over what it said was the failure of Russian energy company to supply agreed volumes of gas for transit, ordering Gazprom to pay $4.

63 billion to the Ukrainian firm. However, taking into account the amount of money previously awarded to Gazprom in relation with the gas supply contract, the mutual offset of liabilities resulted in Gazprom's obligation to pay $2.56 billion.

Gazprom filed an appeal to Sweden's Svea Court of Appeal, which ordered to suspend the execution of the arbitration court's ruling, however, Ukraine said it would start claiming the compensation via asset freezes in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.