BRUSSELS (Reuters), -Gazprom’s critics lost a blow when the European Union’s highest court upheld a 2018 verdict that permitted the Russian giant to settle a long-running investigation into antitrust without any fine.

Gazprom (MCX) was accepted by the European Commission in 2018. This concession included an agreement to change its pricing and grant rivals entry into eastern Europe. The company was able to dodge a penalty that could have been as high as 10% of its total global turnover.

The settlement was criticized by the Polish government, its rival PGNiG and other eastern European countries for not being tough enough on Gazprom. It is contrasted with the heavy EU antitrust fines imposed against Google (NASDAQ:).

PGNiG challenged the Luxembourg-based General Court’s settlement and asked for the annulment of the Commission’s denial of the complaint it made about Gazprom’s allegedly abusive behavior.

The court stated that “The General Court finds the contested determination is not vitiated” by any procedural or substantive error raised by the applicant.

The Commission’s decision not to reject Gazprom’s PGNiG complaint was rebutted by the judges. They claimed that the Commission had failed to comply with Gazprom’s procedural rights.

“The judgement of the General Court means the European Commision must re-examine PGNiG’s complaint,” PGNiG’s CEO Pawel Majewski said on Twitter (NYSE:).

“We hope that the European Commision will take the opportunity provided by today’s judgement to take decisive action against Gazprom’s violations of competition law,” he added.

Gazprom refused to comment. Gazprom did not comment on the original ruling, which was issued in 2018. It welcomed it and described it as “the best outcome possible for the functioning of the whole European gas market.”

Gazprom needed to make it possible for clients to request lower prices when prices were diverging from certain benchmarks.

The arrangement turned out to be controversial. It was controversial because the spot gas prices reached new highs in Europe in December. They were much higher than Gazprom’s long-term prices.

Russian officials stated recently that Russia was willing to expand gas exports through long-term contracts. They prefer these to the short-term, spot-market deals.

Gazprom (Russia’s largest gas export monopoly) was also required to lift contractual restrictions that prohibited clients from buying its gas.

The Wednesday rulings come at an opportune time, as Russia has positioned some 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s border. And the EU is now threatening Moscow, despite its dependence on Russian gas supplies, with severe sanctions if it attacks Kyiv.

Ursula von der Leyen, chief EU Commission, indicated last week that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for gas could be stopped if Moscow invades Ukraine. She was referring to the pipeline, which is still in operation and uses it to transport gas from Russia to Germany.

Appeal to the European Court of Justice (Europe’s highest court) can be made against any ruling.

The cases are T-616/18 Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo v Commission (Engagements de Gazprom) and T-399/19 Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo v Commission (Rejet de plainte).