Ukrainian energy companies file suit against Russia for lost assets
Two Ukrainian energy companies have brought a claim to the UN Arbitration Court asking for compensation for losses due to the inability to control assets in the Crimea after the peninsula was annexed by Russia, as reported by Reuters on Monday, May 2nd.
According to the agency, the two companies involved are Ukrnafta and Stabil.
They contend that Russia violated its obligations under the Russian-Ukrainian bilateral investment agreement by "expropriating" the investments of these companies into a gas station in the Crimea.
The case was opened in June 2015, although it was only recently made public. Russia claims that the issue is beyond the jurisdiction of the Arbitration Court.
At the beginning of 2016 it became known that Ukrnafta and 11 other Ukrainian companies that had been doing business in the Crimea submitted claims against Russia to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. In the claim, they referenced the agreement on the protection of investments which was made between Russia and Ukraine in 1998.
The specific nature of the claims of the Ukrainian companies was not indicated in the Reuters report.