The court of the Astana International Financial Centre in Kazakhstan has overturned its own order to seize $1.4 billion in Gazprom assets at the request of the Ukrainian company Naftogaz. In its new ruling, the court said it lacked the authority to hear the case.
The original order was issued in May 2026 by British judge Andrew Spink. The matter was later reviewed again, and judge Lord Faulks concluded that the AIFC court’s jurisdiction is limited to three categories of disputes.
According to the ruling, the court may hear disputes between participants in the Centre itself, cases involving operations conducted within the AIFC, and disputes that the parties have specifically agreed to submit there.
The dispute between Naftogaz and Gazprom, the decision says, concerns enforcement of an arbitration award by the International Criminal Court and is unrelated to the AIFC. For that reason, the claim does not fall under any of the grounds that would allow the court to consider it.
The conflict between the two companies arose from a 2019 contract on arranging gas transit through Ukraine. In May 2022, transit through the Sokhranovka station became complicated because of the war in Ukraine, after which deliveries continued through the Sudzha entry point.
Despite the alternative route remaining in operation, Gazprom refused to fully pay for the services provided. That became the basis for Naftogaz to bring the case before an arbitration tribunal.
In June 2025, the tribunal found Gazprom liable and ordered it to pay the debt, interest, and costs. Then, in January 2026, Switzerland’s Federal Tribunal rejected Gazprom’s attempt to challenge the award, definitively upholding it.
After that, Naftogaz launched an international campaign to recover the Russian company’s assets in multiple jurisdictions.