VNG AG stops lawsuits against Gazprom – enormous consequences for Ukraine!

VNG AG stops lawsuits against Gazprom – enormous consequences for Ukraine!

In a crucial step, VNG AG, a major German company, has decided to end legal disputes with Gazprom due to interrupted gas supplies since 2022. According to a report by Technologijos This decision is the result of high legal costs that cannot be covered by Gazprom's increasingly dwindling international assets. The decision has far-reaching consequences, especially for Ukraine, which is in a long legal dispute with the Russian energy company.

Ukraine's Naftogaz Group recently won a $1.37 billion arbitration award against Gazprom. This amount includes not only the principal debt for gas transit services under the 2019 contract, but also late payment interest and full reimbursement of additional legal costs incurred. Rig zone reports that Naftogaz is already planning asset recovery measures against foreign assets in the event of non-performance by Gazprom.

Litigation over assets

Naftogaz's recent successes span several years and also include a separate arbitration award of more than $5 billion against the Russian government for the "illegal expropriation" of its assets in Crimea since its annexation in 2014. The award, made in 2023 at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, has great significance for Ukrainians.

A Finnish court approved the freezing of Russian assets in October 2024 to enforce this arbitration award. This affects real estate as well as millions of dollars in assets. In April 2025, a French court even allowed the seizure of Russian assets in France, also in view of the 2023 ruling. Naftogaz registered mortgages on several Russian state assets in France worth over $139 million.

The legal framework

The legal basis for these extensive disputes is based, among other things, on the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of July 15, 2021, which establishes the principle of energy solidarity. This judgment deals with third-party network access requirements and was addressed in proceedings with Germany and the European Commission. It was made clear that the principle of energy solidarity is binding for future decisions, which influences the handling of such disputes. Against this background, one can see how complex the legal disputes in the energy sector actually are, which is further reinforced by the decision of VNG AG and the successes of Naftogaz.

In summary, the developments surrounding VNG and Naftogaz shed clear light on the ongoing difficulties in the gas business. Since the legal disputes continue to be of great importance for both Ukraine and the energy company Gazprom, it remains to be seen how this situation will develop in the near future.