Ukraine's anti-monopoly regulator decides to fine Gazprom $3.5 bln

"We have just made a decision regarding the abuse of monopoly position on the market of natural gas transit via trunk pipelines on the territory of Ukraine by the company Gazprom as a monopoly buyer. The fine is UAH 85 billion," Yuriy Terentyev, the head of the Anti-Monopoly Committee, wrote on Facebook. Yaroslav Tekliuk, director on legal issues and interaction with the authorities at NJSC Naftogaz Ukraine, told reporters that Gazprom representatives had not taken part in the Friday meeting of the Anti-Monopoly Committee. According to earlier reports, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers in April 2015, asked the Anti-Monopoly Committee to begin a probe into possible violations of the legislation on the protection of economic competition by Gazprom. Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said Kyiv intends to offer to the EU to conduct a joint investigation into the fact of the monopoly position of Gazprom both on the EU markets and on the Ukrainian market. He said the amount of the fine may reach up to 10% of the total proceeds received by Gazprom on the Ukrainian territory. The Anti-Monopoly Committee determined during the investigation that Gazprom has a monopoly position on the market of gas transit on the territory of Ukraine and constantly breached the conditions of the contract with Naftogaz Ukraine in 2009-2015. The Anti-Monopoly Committee sent the tentative conclusions made by the investigators to Naftogaz and Gazprom in late November 2015. Naftogaz said it agrees with the conclusions made by the Anti-Monopoly Committee, whereas no reaction followed from Gazprom.