Russia's Gazprom has filed an appeal in Swiss courts regarding seizure of assets in the Netherlands
Russian gas company Gazprom has appealed to the Swiss court system regarding the seizure of its assets in the Netherlands.
Gazprom hasfiled an appeal following reports of the seizure of its property in the Netherlands in response to a legal decision in favor of Naftogaz Ukraine in its dispute with the Russian company. Gazprom has stated that no official notifications regarding the launch of arrest procedures were received.
In an officially released statement, Gazprom noted that it has filed a complaint with the courtsover the seizure of the company's assets, which occurredin response to a legal decision in Gazprom’s dispute with Naftogaz Ukraine.
Gazprom stressed that, at present, no official notification has been received of the start of asset seizure pursuant to the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court.
"Despite this, the company filed a petition to the Swiss court today aimed at providing Gazprom with full access to case materials and subsequent appeal against actions of court bailiffs," Gazprom’s Press Office reported. A petition will also be sent to the Dutch court following the Swiss court.
“Gazprom will defend its rights in accordance with applicable law,"the company emphasized.
Naftogaz sent petitions for the confiscation of assets in Gazprom’s subsidiary companies in May. The Ukrainian company’s actions were based on the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court, which in February 2018 ordered Gazprom to pay Naftogaz $4.6 billion. Taking into account Kyiv's debt, this amount fell to $2.56 billion.
At the end of May, Swiss bailiffs began inventorying property at the office of Nord Stream AG, which serves as the operator of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, and Nord Stream 2 AG, which serves as the operating company for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline currently under construction. Despite this, Gazprom said that these actions have not affected the work of the companies. It became known on June 5 that Gazprom’s assets in the Netherlands, where the primary office of subsidiary company Gazprom International is located, had been seized.
Despite this, Gazprom said that the company would not be in a hurry to transfer the money to Kyiv. Sergey Kuznets, Deputy Head of Gazprom’s Legal Department, noted that the trial is not over, as the Russian company has filed an appeal against the Stockholm Arbitration Court’s decision. "We have no confidence that if we pay the money now, we will get it back in the case that the decision is changed or canceled completely, as we hope," he said.