The minority shareholders of PJSC Ukrnafta have filed a lawsuit against Ukraine to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, businessman Ihor Kolomoisky told reporters in Kyiv.

"First of all, [we filed a suit] not to the courts but the arbitration institute, secondly, not only to English [courts] but also to Stockholm, and thirdly, the arbitration [institute] does not like it when press comment on such processes," he said.

"The Stockholm suit concerns gas, the English one - the rights of shareholders," he said.

Kolomoisky nodded when asked "whether the amount of claims is $5 billion?"

Kolomoisky refused to disclose other details of the arbitration claim.

As reported, in January 2015 three Cypriot companies, the minority shareholders of PJSC Ukrnafta, demanded $5 billion from Ukraine as compensation for the actions of the government and Naftogaz Ukrainy, and subsequently a letter to Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn on the issue.

In this letter, the Cypriot companies pointed out that in 2006-2014, Ukraine limited Ukrnafta's right to freely sell residual gas on the market, despite the relevant court decisions.