Ukrainian President: Russia’s position after the decision of the Stockholm arbitration tribunal provides additional grounds to doubt the expediency of the Nord Stream 2

During the meeting with Minister of Defence of Sweden Peter Hultqvist, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko thanked Sweden and the Stockholm arbitration tribunal for the decision of a significant importance for the energy security of Ukraine and the EU. “I am grateful to you, Mr. Minister, as to Swedish representative, for a fair, impartial and independent trial,” the Head of State noted.

“I praise the decision of the Stockholm arbitration tribunal, which put an end to this issue. It confirmed the energy independence of our state and obliged Gazprom to pay 4 billion 600 million US dollars having ensured the energy security of Ukraine and energy security of Europe,” Petro Poroshenko said.

The Head of State noted that after the announcement of this decision by the court, Russia and Gazprom publicly threatened to terminate the supply of gas to Ukraine. They informed that despite the verdict, they were not going to comply with the court's decision on transit and threatened to break the contract, although this is not envisaged by the contract. "This gives additional grounds for thinking about the expediency of the Nord Stream 2 project  for Europe's energy security, as it monopolizes the supply of gas to the EU and violates the principles of diversification," Petro Poroshenko emphasized.

“I am really hopeful that the Northern European countries - Sweden, Finland, Denmark - play a very important role in preventing Russia from using the tools of gas blackmail against the EU and Ukraine," the President said.

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