Harici | 8 December 2025
Dutch court freezes TurkStream assets over Crimea dispute
The Amsterdam District Court in the Netherlands has frozen the assets of South Stream Transport (SST), the operator of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline, following a request by DTEK Krymenergo, a company owned by Ukraine’s wealthiest businessman, Rinat Akhmetov.
According to case files examined by the Russian daily Vedomosti, the ruling aims to secure compensation for damages resulting from the nationalization of the company’s assets in Crimea by Russia.
Prior to Crimea’s annexation by the Russian Federation in 2014, DTEK was the largest shareholder of Krymenergo, holding a 57.49% stake.
The State Council of the Republic of Crimea nationalized the company through a decision made in 2015.
While all energy networks on the peninsula were transferred to an entity of the same name established in Crimea in 2017, the Ukrainian company relocated its legal address from Simferopol to Kyiv.
In a case concluded in November 2023, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ordered Russia to pay $207.8 million in compensation, along with interest and arbitration costs, to Akhmetov’s company for the expropriation of its assets in Crimea.
The Moscow administration appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal in The Hague, and the legal process is currently ongoing.
However, DTEK took action to guarantee the enforcement of the arbitration award. Through an interim measure issued in July, the Amsterdam District Court froze SST’s assets held in accounts at the Netherlands-based ABN Amro Bank.
Gazprom’s other loss in the Netherlands
The legal proceedings initiated by DTEK against Russia were not limited solely to the TurkStream operator.
Also in July, the District Court of The Hague, acting on the company’s request, applied a seizure order against a different Gazprom subsidiary via a simplified procedure.
A 50% stake belonging to Gazprom International Limited in Wintershall Noordzee, one of the largest natural gas producers on the Dutch continental shelf, was seized.
In addition to DTEK, three other Ukrainian companies that lost their assets—Slavutich-Invest, the agricultural company Zhnyva, and the granite producer Avtodorkomplekt—have also secured similar seizure orders against Gazprom’s assets in the Netherlands projected for 2025.
Transition from South Stream to TurkStream
SST, the entity whose assets were seized, was originally established in the Netherlands to construct the offshore section of the South Stream natural gas pipeline, extending from the Krasnodar region across the Black Sea to the Bulgarian coast.
In the company’s initial partnership structure, Gazprom held 50% of the shares, Italian Eni held 20%, and the German company Wintershall and French company EdF each held 15%.
In December 2014, Gazprom became the sole owner of the company by acquiring the 50% stake held by foreign partners.
The only line extending to Europe
Construction of the South Stream project began in 2012 in the Anapa region.
Following the project’s cancellation, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Turkey in 2014 for the construction of the TurkStream pipeline, which possesses the same capacity.
The laying of the offshore section of the pipeline commenced in 2017, and the project was commissioned in January 2020.
With restrictions on the Ukraine route and the Nord Stream lines out of commission, TurkStream currently serves as the sole export route transporting Russia’s pipeline gas to Europe.
