RusHydro prepares suit against Kyrgyzstan over hydropower cascade

MOSCOW, Jun 27 (PRIME) -- Russian hydropower giant RusHydro has notified Kyrgyzstan that it was preparing a suit to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague against the country’s decision to scrap construction of the Verkhne-Narynsky hydropower plant cascade unilaterally, RusHydro CEO Nikolai Shulginov said on Wednesday.

“Our delegation is to fly tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to continue negotiations on invitation of the Kyrgyz side. But we don’t expect positive results. We are implementing measures for consideration of the dispute in the international arbitration court in the Hague simultaneously with that, and we’ve notified the Kyrgyz side of that,” Shulginov said.

“We have filed materials to the Permanent Arbitration Court. Now, an arbiter panel is to be comprised, after which we will prepare and file the suit to the court.”

In 2016, the Kyrgyz government cancelled an agreement with Russia on joint construction of the complex and the Kambaratinskaya GRES-1 power plant, after which RusHydro said it will apply to an international arbitration court.

In July 2017, the then Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov signed an agreement with Czech company Liglass Trading CZ to restart construction of the Verkhne-Narynsky cascade, which it started to build with Russian. Under the deal, Liglass Trading CZ was to repay a U.S. $37 million debt to RusHydro, but it failed to do so on time. Kyrgyzstan terminated the agreement in October 2017.

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