Ukraine warns the EU about the 'refusal of Russia's Gazprom to fulfill the gas transit contract'
Ukraine officially warned the European Union that Russia is not adhering to its obligations regarding the transit of gas, and also refuses to comply with the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court, as stated by Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Olena Zerkal on her Facebook page.
According to Zerkal, Gazprom’s current failure to fulfill its contractual obligations and the refusal to implement the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court are an emergent threat to the transit of gas to Ukraine and the EU.
"Gazprom once again proves its dishonesty, and, as always, tries to frame Ukraine. It will not work! We just sent a notice to the EU providing an early warning of the crisis situation in the energy sector in accordance with Article 340 and Appendix 26 of the Association Agreement," she said.
In addition, Zerkal said that Ukraine is initiating trilateral negotiations within the Ukraine-EU-Russia format on ensuring the stability of gas supplies to Ukraine and the EU.
"What happened in 2009 will not happen again. Stockholm, the Association Agreement, and the gas market reforms have completely changed the paradigm of relations with the Russian Federation in the gas sector. Blackmail is not working anymore," the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister said.
On March 1, Ukrtransgaz PJSC (state-run operator of gas pipelines) reported that Russian Gazprom, since the beginning of 2018, has not ensured sufficient pressure at the entry point to the GTS (Gas Transit System) of Ukraine, which is required under the transit contract.
"Today, Gazprom has reduced the pressure at the entry to our GTS by almost 20% below the contractual rate. Such tricks will not work. We are initiating an early warning mechanism in the energy sector under the Association Agreement and the tripartite mechanism Ukraine-EU-Russia," Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin wrote on Twitter the day before.
On February 28th it became known that the Stockholm Arbitration Court upheld the demands of Naftogaz for compensation for the gas transit volumes that Gazprom did not provide.
According to the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court, Naftogaz was awarded compensation in the amount of $ 4.63 billion for Gazprom's failure to deliver agreed volumes of gas for transit. Based on the results of two arbitration proceedings in Stockholm, Gazprom will pay 2.56 billion dollars in favor of Naftogaz.
On Thursday, March 1st, Gazprom returned to Naftogaz an advance payment, made by the Ukrainians as part of the arbitration decision and refused to supply gas on a prepayment basis. Kyiv said that they consider this to be a refusal to carry out the arbitration decision.