International Court starts hearing Naftogaz vs Russia asset case

MOSCOW, Aug 8 (PRIME) -- The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague has started consideration of a U.S. $2.6 billion suit filed by Ukraine’s energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy against Russia because of the loss of its Crimean assets, as seen by PRIME on the court’s official Web site on Tuesday.

The court has received a letter from Russia, saying that a 1998 investment agreement between Russia and Ukraine, “cannot serve as the basis arbitral tribunal consideration to settle the claim” and that it “does not recognize the jurisdiction of an international arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in settlement of the claim.”

Russia has not appointed any representatives, and the Ukrainian side will be represented by U.S. Covington & Burling.

In October, Naftogaz Ukrainy initiated arbitration proceedings against Russia under a 1998 investment agreement, under which the company owned gas producer Chornomornaftogaz in Crimea, but after the peninsula joined Russia in 2014, the company developing gas in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov was nationalized by the local government.

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