Russia will pay $3 billion to Ukraine

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's gas company Gazprom will pay $3 billion to Ukraine in accordance with the Stockholm arbitration ruling, advisor to the Ukrainian president Andrey Ermak said on Friday, December 20, TASS reports.

"We are returning home with very good news and will have a transit contract on the conditions beneficial for Ukraine," Ermak told Obschestvennoye Televidenie TV channel. "Thanks to these agreements, Ukraine will get $3 billion in accordance with the Stockholm arbitration ruling," he added.

He also said that the debt will be settled in money, and not in gas, as was earlier discussed at consultations.

A spokesperson for Gazprom earlier told reporters that Russia and Ukraine have signed a protocol on agreements for continuing gas transit via Ukraine and settling mutual claims. The office of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that the details of the deal will be made public on December 21 at the briefing held by Ukrainian Energy Minister Alexey Orzhel and Executive Director of Naftogaz Yury Vitrenko.

An existing gas transit deal between Ukraine and Russia is set to expire at midnight on Dec. 31 and both countries have scrambled to reach a new pact. Talks are still underway in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

Despite the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine in which some 14,000 people have been killed since 2014, the country has remained a vital transit hub for Russian natural gas headed to the EU. Kyiv earns about $3 billion per year in transit fees, approximately 3% of the country’s annual gross domestic product.