MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine does not plan to withdraw the lawsuit it filed in June against Russian energy giant Gazprom from the Stockholm arbitration court over alleged overpayments it made to the company, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Thursday.
"The final decision regarding the fate of the gas contract will be made by the Stockholm arbitration court, which is why the agreement and the protocol being signed are temporary and will be in force for half a year," Yatsenyuk said.
"Ukraine has not and will not withdraw its main lawsuit demanding a compensation of $6 billion from Russia's Gazprom," he added.
In June, Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftogaz filed a lawsuit with the Stockholm arbitration court hoping to recover $6 billion in alleged overpayments to Gazprom. Meanwhile, Gazprom filed a lawsuit against Naftogaz in order to recover $4.5 billion in debt and switched Ukraine to a prepayment system. Ukraine currently receives gas only through reverse flows.
In September, Russia and the European Commission proposed the so-called winter package, according to which Ukraine should pay $3.1 billion of its debt to Russia by the end of the year in exchange for gas deliveries during the winter period.
On Wednesday, the parties resumed talks on winter gas deliveries. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Kiev is ready to pay the $3.1 billion by the end of the year.
