Ukraine Naftogaz files $5.2 bln lawsuit against Russia

Thomson Reuters Fondation | 31 July 2019

Ukraine Naftogaz files $5.2 bln lawsuit against Russia

KIEV, July 31 (Reuters) - Ukraine’s state energy group Naftogaz said on Wednesday it has asked the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) to force the Russian Federation to pay the Ukrainian company $5.2 billion compensation for assets lost in annexed Crimea.

Relations between Kiev and Moscow plummeted after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and role in the Donbass conflict.

Naftogaz said it expected that PCA would decide on compensation for losses not earlier than by the end of 2020.

In March, PCA found in favour of Naftogaz and six of its subsidiaries, concluding that Russia is liable for the unlawful seizure of Naftogaz assets in Crimea under the bilateral investment treaty between Ukraine and Russia. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, editing by Louise Heavens)