Ukraine flatly rules out recalling natural gas suit from Stockholm court

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk declined to comment on talks between Ukraine, the European Union and Russia on natural gas issues that had been held on Friday but said Ukraine would "under no circumstances" recall a gas suit it had filed with an arbitration court in Stockholm.

"I won't make any comments before an agreement is put on paper. But I want to stress that Ukraine will under no circumstances recall its suit from the Stockholm Arbitration Court," Yatseniuk told reporters at Kyiv's Boryspil airport.

He said the court verdict would underlie Ukraine's position in talks with Russia's Gazprom.

However, Ukraine wanted a provisional agreement with Russia before the court issued its ruling.

"There needs to be a series of legal procedures before the court issues its ruling, and that takes time. So our joint position with the European Commission is that, before the definitive ruling of the Stockholm arbitration court, we need an interim agreement on supplies of natural gas. Our European partners have discussed terms for such an agreement, and after the positions on such an agreement are definitively formulated and publicized, the government and Naftogaz will definitely make their comments," he said.