Reuters reported that on April 16, the St. Petersburg regional court Petersburg has raised the financial fine for Ukraine's state-owned energy company Naftogaz from $150 million to $1.3 billion.
The initial fines were imposed in 2024, related to a dispute over a five-year Russia-Ukraine gas transit agreement, which expired in early 2025.
Naftogaz's decision to pursue international arbitration procedures to resolve disagreements with Russia's Gazprom Group is believed to be the main reason for the nearly 10-fold increase in fines.
Naftogaz has not yet responded to Reuters' comments.
Previously, in May 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict had lasted for several months, the operator of the Ukrainian gas transmission system announced a stop on the transit of Russian gas to Europe via the Sokhranovka measuring station, citing the reason of "irresistence" - a provision applied when businesses encountered situations beyond their control.
At the time, Ukraine said that the Novopskov gas compressors in the Lugansk region were no longer under its control. However, Gazprom immediately denied it and said that there was no evidence to show that this was force majeure.
In the fall of 2022, Naftogaz filed a lawsuit against Gazprom with the International Arbitration Court, accusing Russia of late payment of gas transit fees through Ukraine.
Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said the lawsuit was illegal and warned Russia could impose sanctions on Naftogaz and suspend all relations if Ukraine continues to commit acts that Moscow considers unfair.
Since the Sokhranovka station was shut down, the only route of Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine is the Sudzha station, located in Russia's Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border.
Gazprom has also stopped paying transit fees via Sokhranovka, while Naftogaz is still pursuing an arbitration lawsuit, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.
Despite facing many lawsuits from European companies with a total compensation claim value of up to about 18.5 billion euros (equivalent to 20 billion USD), Gazprom has remained legally proactive in continuous counter-suits in Russia.
To date, the group has won 10 of the 14 enforcement judgments in Russian courts against the defendants.
