Having filed a claim at the Stockholm arbitration court to recover $4.5 billion of Ukraine's gas debt after talks collapsed on Monday, Gazprom could up the stakes and demand $18 billion, the company's chief, Alexei Miller, said.
"Concerning claims from Gazprom, we may file another case to the Stockholm arbitration court for $18 billion," Miller told TV station Rossiya 24, explaining that this sum factored in $11.7 billion-worth of gas that Ukraine committed to pay for over 2012 and 2013 under the 'take or pay' conditions of its gas supply contract, which obliges the buyer to foot the bill for specific volumes of gas regardless of whether they were used.
Gas talks collapsed on Monday after weeks of tense negotiations between Moscow and Kiev on the price of gas and the size of Ukraine's gas debt, prompting Russia to cut off supplies to Ukraine and both countries' state-owned gas companies to send competing claims in in the Stockholm court.
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