"Moral pressure and quackery": "Naftogaz" demanded from Russia $ 5.2 billion for assets in the Crimea

Naftogaz and its affiliates demanded that Russia pay them compensation for assets lost in Crimea. A lawsuit for $ 5.2 billion, they filed a tribunal at the permanent chamber of arbitration in The Hague. This is reported on the website of the Ukrainian company.

“Naftogaz of Ukraine” and enterprises belonging to the Naftogaz group, at the end of June filed a claim with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague about the amount of compensation for losses caused by the expropriation of assets of the Naftogaz group in Crimea. The Naftogaz group asks the tribunal to oblige the Russian Federation to pay $ 5.2 billion to the plaintiffs, ”follows from the statement.

The company noted that the decision on the claim will be made no earlier than the end of 2020. At the same time, Naftogaz did not fail to recall that earlier, in March, the tribunal declared Russia allegedly violating the provisions of the agreement of November 27, 1998 on the protection of investments.

In Moscow, then, this decision was not recognized. As explained in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, Russia did not participate in the proceedings, since the Hague court has no jurisdiction to consider such claims from Ukraine. The Russian side notes that the document on which Naftogaz relies only applies to investment, and the property that is the subject of the dispute is located in the Crimea and Sevastopol, which were previously part of Ukraine, and now (according to the results of the will of the people ) are part of the Russian Federation. In this regard, Russia submitted to the Supreme Court of Switzerland applications for the abolition of arbitral awards on such claims of Ukrainian companies.

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• © Maxim Blinov

“They don’t want to make money by themselves”

In the State Duma, Naftogaz’s demands were called an attempt at moral pressure and charlatanry.

“Crimea became an independent region, and as an independent territory it became part of the Russian Federation. Ukraine has nothing to do with the Crimea. All this is a legal deception, quackery and an attempt at moral pressure. They can get together and make any decisions between themselves. I believe that this has nothing to do with the Russian state, ”said RT First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, Igor Anansky.

His position is shared by State Duma deputy Mikhail Sheremet. According to him, the Ukrainian company is chasing easy money.

“In Ukraine, apparently, they do not want to make money on their own, therefore they are trying to become dependents at the expense of Russia. As for Naftogaz, this company does not have the right to demand any compensation for the Crimean assets, because, in fact, it did not invest in the development of the energy sector of the peninsula and used the infrastructure inherited from it as a Soviet legacy, ”Sheremet told RIA Novosti .

• Permanent Court of Arbitration Building in The Hague
• © Wikipedia

Political process

Experts regard the current claims of Naftogaz as a gradual recognition of the Russian side of the Crimea by the Ukrainian side.

“The situation is interesting: it turns out that Naftogaz fully recognizes that the Crimea is the territory of the Russian Federation, it recognizes Russia's rights to property in the Crimea. In this regard, there is a certain positive political moment. Another question is how competent the Hague Court is in relation to the change of the owner’s right, ”said RT Leading Analyst at the National Energy Security Foundation Igor Yushkov.

He believes that Russia will adhere to the previous position on the lack of jurisdiction of the Hague Court and ignore its decisions.

“It is possible that Russia will try to force to pay this amount. But these are all elements of the politicization of energy, ”added Yushkov.

Sergey Pikin, director of the Energy Development Fund, believes that Naftogaz uses the same strategy as Yukos once did.

“This is a common litigation. “Naftogaz” is trying to conduct this trial through The Hague, if we draw an analogy, it looks like the example with “YUKOS”. Naturally, we do not recognize their jurisdiction. Oblige Russia to pay this amount can not, sovereign states generally difficult to oblige anything. The question is that after some decisions there may be attempts to seize property, ”the expert explained.

Do not lose hope

Note that in 2016 Naftogaz has been trying to receive “compensation” from Russia. Then, the company and its subsidiaries PJSC GAO Chernomornaftogaz, PJSC Ukrtransgaz, DP Likvo, PJSC Ukrgazdobycha, PJSC Ukrtransnafta and DP Gas of Ukraine, estimated their losses to be $ 2.6 billion. investment arbitrage.

By 2017, claims increased to $ 5 billion. With them, the company appealed to the arbitration court of the Hague. In The Hague partially satisfied the requirements of Naftogaz. The decision was made only on Russia's responsibility for compliance with the investment protection agreement, but not on the amount of compensation.

Later, the executive director of Naftogaz, Yuri Vitrenko, announced his intention to demand about $ 8 billion from Russia, taking into account "percent."

In addition to Naftogaz, other Ukrainian companies also demand compensation from Russia. Thus, in 2018, the arbitration court in The Hague satisfied the claims of the Ukrainian Everest Estate and a number of other plaintiffs. Then UNIAN reported that the court ordered the Russian side to pay $ 159 million. However, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation did not recognize this decision.