Stockholm court to consider Ukrainian bank's claim against Russia for lost assets in Crimea
The Stockholm Arbitration Court has taken a claims complaint made by the largest bank in Ukraine, PivatBank, under consideration. The bank claims to have lost assets worth nearly 1 billion dollars caused by the annexation of Crimea. This was reported by the Chairman of PrivatBank, Dmitry Dubilet.
“We have gone through all of the procedures and the Stockholm Arbitration Court has taken our complaint under consideration. The entire amount in our complaint is 1 billion dollars. This amount consists of lost property, lost loans and lost assets in Crimea. Russia is in no way involved in this,” he stated in an interview with New Time.
According to the bank, the court is fully constituted and will conduct the examination in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The arbitration proceedings will be held at The Hague in the Netherlands.
PrivatBank was established in 1992. As of the 7th of July 2015, its largest shareholders were Gennady Bogolyubov and Igor Kolomoisky, owning a combined 45,3182%.
On February 3rd in Crimea, an auction was held in which the property complex of the Foros Sanatorium in Yalta was up for sale. The property belongs to Kolomoisky. The money paid for this property will be given to the depositors of some Ukrainian banks, predominantly to PrivatBank, as planned by the Russian authorities of Crimea.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine officially declared the beginning of temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia on February 20th, 2014. On the 7th of October 2015, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, signed the law confirming this occupation. Several western countries have imposed various economic sanctions against Russia as a result of the illegal annexation of the peninsula. Russia has denied its occupation of the Crimea and instead refers to it as the “correction of a historical injustice.”