The Ukrainian company Naftogaz said that it had been given to the green light to continue compensation of $ 5 billion in the Russian state before the French courts after a Parisian civil court recognized the decision of an arbitration court dating from 2023.
The complaint, filed with the Permanent Arbitration Court in The Hague, concerns a complaint against the Russian Federation for compensation following the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, rather than the current under-denty war that the Kremlin takes place on its neighbor.
“This order of the French court recognizing and granting authorization to enforce the final price allows Naftogaz to move forward with an application procedure on French territory,” said Roman Chumak, CEO of the NAFTOGAZ group.
“Our team continues each legal avenue available to enforce the sentence and ensure that Russia is held responsible for its illegal actions,” added Roman Chumak.
NAFTOGAZ, who accuses Moscow of grasping pipeline and offshore infrastructures in what kyiv and the EU consider as an occupied territory, said in a press release that French legal action was part of an effort “to apply the sentence in countries where Russia has assets”.
The news of Paris occurs a day after a court in Saint Petersburg has increased a price against Naftogaz to $ 1.3 billion in a case launched by Russia Gazprom on the limitation of the gas transport company through Ukrainian territory, according to the media citing the Russian news agency Interfax.
The gas transit in the EU via Ukraine ended this year when existing transit agreements expired, although imports continue via the Turkstream pipeline through the Balts and in Hungary and Austria.
The European Commission should present on May 6 an action plan to wean Europe from all imports of Russian fossil fuels, but Budapest has already excluded to support any gas sanction, which would require the unanimous agreement of the 27 EU members.
