Naftogaz wins $1.4 billion Gazprom case—now comes the harder part

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Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court on 13 March rejected Gazprom’s challenge to a June 2025 arbitration ruling, making a $1.4 billion judgment against the Russian gas company legally final.

No further appeal is possible under Swiss law. Naftogaz CEO Serhii Koretskyi said the company is moving immediately to forced collection, targeting Gazprom assets outside Russia.

Enforcement proceedings in the Crimea case are now active in ten jurisdictions, with Russian assets already seized in Finland and France.

Naftogaz has been here before. In 2023, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ordered Russia to pay $5 billion for illegally seizing the company’s assets in occupied Crimea.

International arbitration rulings—called awards—carry the same legal force as court judgments and are enforceable worldwide, but only against assets that can be identified and seized. Enforcement proceedings in the Crimea case are now active in ten jurisdictions, with Russian assets already seized in Finland and France.

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What Gazprom owed—and why it stopped paying

The dispute dates to May 2022, three months into Russia’s full-scale invasion. Gazprom stopped fulfilling its obligations under a 2019 take-or-pay transit agreement with Naftogaz—a contract that requires payment for booked gas transportation capacity regardless of volumes actually moved.

Gazprom appealed to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court. On 13 March, that court rejected the challenge.

Naftogaz filed for arbitration in Switzerland that September. Russia attempted to block proceedings through its own courts and failed.

In June 2025, a tribunal seated in Zurich—with arbitrators from Sweden, Switzerland, and Israel—ruled in Naftogaz’s favor, ordering Gazprom to pay $1.37 billion in principal debt for gas transportation services, plus delay interest and full compensation of Naftogaz’s legal costs. Gazprom appealed to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court. On 13 March, that court rejected the challenge.

With nine months of interest accrued since the June ruling, the total owed now exceeds $1.4 billion.

“Switzerland’s highest court upheld the validity of the arbitral award and definitively rejected the arguments of the Russian side,” Koretskyi said on 13 March. With nine months of interest accrued since the June ruling, the total owed now exceeds $1.4 billion.

Naftogaz has pursued Gazprom through Swiss courts since September 2022, when Russia stopped paying for gas transit services it had contracted. Three and a half years later, the case is closed—and the enforcement clock has started. Chart: Ekonomichna Pravda, Naftogaz / Euromaidan Press

Precedent: one victory collected, one still in pursuit

In 2018, a Stockholm tribunal ordered Gazprom to pay $4.63 billion in transit fees it had underpaid under an earlier contract—a sum Naftogaz eventually collected in full.

Austria’s courts authorized the seizure of Russian assets worth €120 million.

The post-invasion cases have proven harder to enforce. The $5 billion Crimea Award, confirmed by Dutch courts in December 2024, entered active enforcement in 2025—more than two years after the original Hague ruling. Austria’s courts authorized the seizure of Russian assets worth €120 million ($130 million); proceedings in nine other jurisdictions are ongoing.

What the ruling clears—and what remains

Gazprom now has no legal grounds to contest or delay enforcement in any jurisdiction that recognizes Swiss arbitration awards—the vast majority of Europe. Koretskyi noted that multiple legal proceedings against Russia are ongoing in parallel. The $1.4 billion transit case is one of several ongoing proceedings.

The judgment is real. The check has not arrived.