Kazakhstan will not enforce a ruling by the Astana International Financial Centre court that recognized Ukraine’s Naftogaz’s right to collect $1.4 billion from Russia’s Gazprom, Justice Minister Yerlan Sarsenbaev said.

In June 2025, a Swiss arbitration court sided with Naftogaz in its dispute with Gazprom over a gas transit contract left unfulfilled amid the war. On May 21, the Astana International Financial Centre court recognized that arbitration ruling and authorized Naftogaz to collect the sum from Gazprom on Kazakhstan’s territory.

Kazakhstan, Sarsenbaev said, will not become “a transit platform for enforcing rulings that have no legal connection to it.” “Kazakhstan’s legal mechanisms do not provide for the consideration of disputes unrelated to its jurisdiction, and therefore the AIFC court ruling in question will not be enforced on the territory of Kazakhstan,” he added.

The law limits the Astana International Financial Centre court’s jurisdiction to specific categories of disputes referred to it by agreement of the parties, Sarsenbaev said. Gazprom was not a participant in the AIFC, the disputed transaction was not conducted through the AIFC, and the parties had not agreed to submit the case to the AIFC court.

Any party has the right to file a claim in court, Sarsenbaev said — but that does not always mean the court has the corresponding jurisdiction.