No legal grounds to annul 2009 gas contracts with Russia, says Ukraine's premier

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that there are no legal grounds that would allow Kyiv to annul the 2009 gas contracts between Russia's gas giant Gazprom and Ukraine's national gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy in court.

"I am often asked why don't we terminate [the contract] through the courts? We would have done so a long time ago, if there was even one tiny legal flaw to justify its annulment. But there isn't. The contract is beyond the reach of Ukraine," Azarov said at a meeting with U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman in Kyiv on Tuesday.