Hague court initiates suits of 2 Ukrainian firms against Russia

MOSCOW, May 4 (PRIME) -- The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague has launched proceedings over suits of Ukrainian companies Ukrnafta and Stabil against Russia regarding their assets in Crimea which joined Russia in March 2014, the court said in a statement on Monday.

“In their respective Notices of Arbitration, Ukrnafta and Stabil claim that, as of April 2014, the Russian Federation breached its obligations under the Ukraine-Russia BIT (the November 1998 agreement on the encouragement and mutual protection of investments) by interfering with and ultimately expropriating their investments in petrol stations located in Crimea,” the court said.

“By letters dated August 12 and September 15, 2015, the Russian Federation indicated, inter alia, that the ‘[Ukraine-Russia BIT] cannot serve as a basis for composing an arbitral tribunal to settle [Ukrnafta’s and Stabil’s claims]’ and that it ‘does not recognize the jurisdiction of an international arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in settlement of [Ukrnafta’s and Stabil’sclaims].

It also stated that nothing in its correspondence should be considered as consent of the Russian Federation to constitution of an arbitral tribunal, participation in arbitral proceedings, or as procedural actions taken in the framework of the proceedings.

As foreseen in the procedural timetable, the Tribunal posed questions to the Parties with respect to issues of jurisdiction on April 22, 2016. The Parties’ answers to the Tribunal’s questions are due by June 3, 2016. A hearing on issues of jurisdiction has been scheduled to take place on July 11, 2016.”

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