Kolomoisky sued Russia for $45 million. What next?
The largest Ukrainian oil producing company Ukrnafta, partly owned by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, lost property by almost $45 million due to Russia’s actions in Crimea. The Russian state is obliged to compensate for this damage, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This decision was made by the Hague Arbitration Court, according to a message on the Ukrnafta website.
The court also demanded that Moscow compensate interest (more than $5,5 million), penalties and arbitration costs (more than $3,5 million).
The lawsuit concerns administrative premises and 16 gas stations on the peninsula.
At the same time, the arbitration recognized its jurisdiction over a similar claim against Russia, filed by the Ukrainian company Stabil and ten other persons. In the fall of 2014, Ukrnafta announced that Russia had violated its obligations under the 1998 investment treaty. First, this prevented investments in Crimean gas stations, and then led to their “expropriation.”
Four years later, the Swiss Supreme Court recognized that the company was an investor by agreement, and its property in Crimea was an investment.
Russia responded by stating that a bilateral investment protection agreement cannot serve as a basis for settling the plaintiffs' claims by an arbitration tribunal.
The decisions of the Arbitration Court in The Hague cannot be challenged, but Russia is also in no hurry to implement them. In response, Russia risks facing the freezing of its assets abroad, which Kolomoisky’s lawyers are already working on.
The decisions of the Hague Court work according to the following scheme. Having a decision, so to speak, “in hand,” the plaintiff files claims in the courts in specific countries where, in his opinion, there is property of the Russian Federation. Therefore, most likely, Ukrnafta will continue the campaign to enforce the Hague arbitration award in other countries.
The Russian authorities have not yet paid similar compensation to other companies, so it is likely that the same thing will happen with this judicial act - the court is won, but the company will not receive real money,” Vladimir Shalaev commented on the court decision to Gazeta.Ru. , lawyer at BMS Law Firm.
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