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RUSSIA

Gazprom appeals Swedish arbitration court’s ruling

Russian gas giant Gazprom has appealed a Swedish arbitration court ruling that ordered it to pay more than $2.5 billion to Ukraine's gas firm Naftogaz.

Gazprom appeals Swedish arbitration court's ruling
The dispute dates back several years. Photo: AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky

“On March 21st Gazprom filed a request to the Court of Appeals in the Svea District to partially annul the final arbitration ruling with Naftogaz Ukraine on the subject of deliveries” of gas, the firm said in a statement on Thursday.

It said the appeal was motivated by errors of procedure and abuses committed by the arbitrators.

Last month the Stockholm Arbitration Court ordered Gazprom to pay $2.56 billion to Naftogaz to settle all of their legal disputes and ordered the resumption of deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine.

The two companies had demanded tens of billions of dollars from each other in a dispute over an expensive 10-year contract Ukraine signed in 2009 after Gazprom cut its deliveries in the middle of the winter.

Gazprom refused to restart deliveries as ordered at the beginning of March and had indicated it planned to appeal the ruling.

Moscow and Kiev have had a number of disputes over gas supplies in recent years, some of which led to reductions in supplies to other European countries via pipelines that transit Ukraine.

Roughly 15 percent of the gas Europe buys from Russia is transported through Ukraine. 

MILITARY

Sweden steps up Baltic defence in ‘signal’ to Russia

Sweden's defence minister has said his country is carrying out military exercises in the Baltic Sea to 'send a signal' to countries including Russia.

Sweden steps up Baltic defence in 'signal' to Russia
Swedish troops on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland. Photo: Joel Thungren/Försvarsmakten/TT

The so-called “high readiness action” means the Swedish army, navy and air force are currently more visible in the southeastern and southern Baltic Sea and on the island of Gotland.

No details have been disclosed about the number of troops involved in the action.

Sweden is “sending a signal both to our Western partners and to the Russian side that we are prepared to defend Sweden's sovereignty,” Hultqvist told news agency TT.


Ground troops on Gotland. Photo: Bezhav Mahmoud/Försvarsmakten/TT

“There is currently extensive military activity in the Baltic Sea, conducted by Russian as well as Western players, on a scale the likes of which have not been seen since the Cold War,” the Swedish Armed Forces' Commander of Joint Operations, Jan Thörnqvist, said in a statement.

“The exercise activities are more complex and have arisen more rapidly than before. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic has caused global anxiety and uncertainty. Over all, the situation is more unstable and more difficult to predict,” Thörnqvist said.


A Visby-class corvette and two Jas Gripen jets in the air. Photo: Antonia Sehlstedt/Försvarsmakten/TT

Hultqvist said Sweden was also monitoring developments in Belarus “very closely”.

Non-Nato member Sweden, which has not been to war in two centuries and which slashed military spending at the end of the Cold War, reopened a garrison on Gotland in January 2018 amid concerns about Russian intentions in Europe and the Baltic.

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