new naftogaz claims threaten gas transit talks

摘要

Moscow has reacted angrily after Ukrainian state-owned Naftogaz launched a new arbitration case claiming over $11bn from Russian state-controlled Gazprom, against the backdrop of long-running negotiations over Russian gas transit through Ukraine. Russian energy minister Alexander Novak dismissed Ukraine’s claim as “absurd” and “political” on 6 November. The latest claim “has not even been considered yet [by the court], so it is too early to declare that someone is to pay anything to anyone”, he says. And Novak also described a $6.4bn fne demanded by Ukraine’s anti-monopoly committee in 2016, for alleged violation of rules on using the Ukrainian gas transport system, as “absurd”.