Naftogaz wins final court ruling against Gazprom for $1.4 billion

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has fully rejected a request by Russia’s Gazprom to overturn the arbitration award of June 16, 2025, under which Gazprom must pay Naftogaz more than $1.4 billion in outstanding debt for natural gas transportation organisation services, plus interest. This was reported by Naftogaz’s press service.

In addition, the court ordered the Russian company to pay legal costs of 200 thousand Swiss francs ($226 thousand), as well as reimburse Naftogaz 250 thousand Swiss francs ($282.5 thousand) for expenses incurred in the proceedings before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

Gazprom appeal

It should be recalled that in July 2025, Gazprom initiated proceedings to annul the arbitration award and simultaneously filed a request to suspend its enforcement until the completion of the case review. In November 2025, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court rejected the request to suspend enforcement. The court has now fully dismissed Gazprom’s appeal on the merits.

“Thus, the highest judicial authority of Switzerland confirmed the validity of the arbitration award and finally rejected the arguments of the Russian side. Naftogaz will continue working on the enforcement of this decision and is pursuing a number of other proceedings against the aggressor state,” said Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi.

Naftogaz was represented in the annulment proceedings by its long-standing legal advisers from the law firms Gabriel Arbitration, Wikborg Rein, Nybron and Bono Legal.

Case background

The court case is related to Gazprom’s refusal to fully pay for natural gas transit services through Ukraine, thereby violating contractual obligations.

Under the 2019 Gas Transportation Organisation Agreement, Naftogaz was obliged to organise the transit of natural gas across the territory of Ukraine for Gazprom until the agreement expired on January 1, 2025.

In May 2022, as a result of actions by Russian occupying forces, gas transit through the Sokhranivka entry point in the Luhansk region became impossible. Despite this, Naftogaz continued to provide gas transit through the Sudzha entry point in the Sumy region.

The GTS Operator of Ukraine declared force majeure due to the lack of access to Sokhranivka. Naftogaz proposed transferring all volumes from Sokhranivka to the Sudzha entry point. However, Gazprom refused to transfer the volumes and reduced payment volumes, which contradicted the “ship-or-pay” principle.

In September 2022, Naftogaz initiated arbitration proceedings in Switzerland under the Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), as предусмотрено by the agreement.

In June 2025, the Swiss arbitration tribunal issued the Final Award, finding Gazprom fully liable for failing to meet its payment obligations and determining that there were no justified grounds for non-payment. The tribunal ordered Gazprom to pay the debt for gas transportation organisation services, interest, and arbitration costs.