MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. Moscow expects that foreign courts’ rulings on Russia won’t be part of political games, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told students and teachers of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University) on Tuesday.
One of the students asked the minister why Russia sometimes lost cases in court, mentioning Gazprom’s appeal against the compensation award of $2.9 bln in favor of Ukraine’s Naftogaz company, which had been rejected.
"I do hope that it is just a corporate dispute," Lavrov said. "I wouldn’t want any court of arbitration, be it the Stockholm one or any other, to be involved in political games. The law does not tolerate politicization," he added.
On December 30, 2019, Russia and Ukraine signed a five-year agreement on the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, which included the possibility of extending gas transit for another ten years. Under the document, both parties are supposed to drop all mutual lawsuits that are still open, and abandon all possible complaints in relation to contracts as of January 19, 2009. In accordance with the agreement, Russia’s Gazprom gas company paid $2.9 bln to Ukraine under a Stockholm Arbitration ruling.
US sanctions proposed in relation to Nord Stream 2
Russia shares the position of the European partners on a purely commercial nature of the Nord Stream 2 project and opposes attempts to use the pipeline in political games, the Russian foreign minister stated on Tuesday.
According to him, there are "methods of unscrupulous competition" in the United States’ aspirations to impose their own more expensive liquefied gas to Europeans instead of the Russian gas, under the pretext of ensuring energy security of Europe.
"Such statements, of course, are arrogant and show complete disrespect of the United States for its allies," the minister noted. "Germany and a number of other European Union countries have already reacted to this. Just the other day, Chancellor [of Germany] Angela Merkel, speaking after a regular meeting of the European Council, confirmed that the Nord Stream 2 is a purely commercial project, which cannot be a bargaining chip in some political games. We share this position," Lavrov added.
The foreign minister drew attention to the illegitimacy of attempts to obstruct the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project by imposing unilateral sanctions. "Only the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council are legitimate," he stressed. "Everything else is just attempts to undermine international law, undermine the principles of the UN Charter, which state the need to collectively build work to resolve any problems," Lavrov said.