Ukraine hopes to resolve gas dispute with Russia out of court, says Kozhara

11:55, 29.01.2013 1 min read

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has not addressed the issue of restructuring or paying the $7 billion bill presented by Russia's gas giant Gazprom to Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy for failing to import the agreed amount of gas in 2012, and expects that this dispute will be resolved out of court.

"The thing is that we haven't started discussing the matter yet. Other procedures might be available, which are provided in the contract. I do not supervise this issue in the government, but there are many possibilities. Firstly, we need to resolve these issues in the spirit of friendly relations with Russia," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said at a press conference of the European Business Association on Tuesday.

When asked whether this matter will be considered in court, he said: "I believe that friends should first of all use out-of-court procedures," he said.

At the same time, Kozhara did not rule out that they could use restructuring to pay this debt.