In Shocking Turn Of Events, Russia Now Owes Ukraine Billions

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2018/03/01/in-shocking-turn-of-events-russia-now-owes-ukraine-billions/#3afeeda652a2

Ukraine finally gets a win against Russia.

State-owned gas company, Naftogaz, was awarded $2.5 billion in a lengthy, ugly legal battle with Russian gas behemoth Gazprom. The Stockholm Arbitral Tribunal finally ruled on a years old dispute regarding natural gas transit fees in favor of the Ukrainians on Wednesday. Gazprom said they will appeal the ruling.

Russia's revenge began immediately on Thursday when Naftogaz learned of Gazprom's decision not to supply gas to Ukraine this month. Naftogaz said it had already paid for deliveries.

Russia and Ukraine's bitter divorce has Gazprom at the heart of the fighting. When former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych rejected a European trade deal in favor of cheaper Gazprom gas, Kiev erupted in protest. Many Ukrainians felt that Yanukovych was choosing Russian interests over sovereign, economic interests. Yanukovych was kicked out of power in 2014, setting off a firestorm of reactions by the Russians that ultimately led to the annexation of Crimea, a southeastern peninsula in the Black Sea and home to Russia's only warm water Naval port; and a separatist war pitting ethnic Russians and pro-Kremlin militants against the Ukrainian government in the Donbass region along the Russian border.

The move led to sectoral sanctions on Russian energy and finance and has ostracized Russia from the West. As the story goes, the Russians are the Cold War bad guys once again. It all started in Ukraine with these two energy companies going at each other's throats. The Russians seemed to always have the upper hand.

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1. It's one thing to get a ruling,

another thing entirely to collect.

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2. Russia's natural gas has to go through pipelines in Ukraine so they have leverage.

In the end they have to cooperate.