The ruling against Gazprom by a Kyiv court is quite strange given that the Russian gas giant does not operate in the Ukrainian market, and the imposed fine could essentially be collected through unauthorized siphoning of Russian gas, company CEO Alexei Miller said.
“The Kyiv court ruling cannot be called anything but very strange, since Gazprom does not work in the Ukrainian market. Gazprom does not transit gas through Ukraine’s territory. To accuse Gazprom of monopolism is more than strange, and to fine besides,” Miller told reporters.
The Kyiv Economic Court on Dec. 5 ruled in favor of Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee in a lawsuit against Gazprom to fine the company Hr 172 billion (about $6.64 billion); half of this amount is the actual fine and the other half is the penalty for failure to pay the fine.
Miller noted the imposed fine of $3.34 billion and the 100 percent penalty for failure to pay.
“This amount is now $6.68 billion. And one can’t help but notice that the Kyiv court makes the decision on forced collection of this fine from Gazprom. What does this mean? Since Gazprom doesn’t have any assets on Ukraine’s territory, Gazprom doesn’t work on Ukraine’s territory, apparently the fine can only be collected thanks to the offtake of essentially our gas on Ukraine’s territory,” Miller said.
He said this refers to unauthorized offtake of Russian gas. Under the 2009 contract, “if Ukraine begins unauthorized offtake, Gazprom has the right to restrict supplies in the amount of the unauthorized offtake, Gazprom can restrict supplies disproportionately, and there is also the possibility that, even in the case of an isolated unauthorized offtake Gazprom can immediately halt supplies,” Miller said.
Asked whether such a turn of events was possible, Miller said “if we’re talking about the risks that were listed, of course they exist. The most important thing is to get through the fall-winter peak, when there is severe cold. Therefore, risks exist.”
