The Helsinki district court has satisfied the petition of Naftohaz Ukrayiny and five other Naftohaz Group companies and seized certain assets owned by Russia on the territory of Finland.
We are talking about real estate and other assets, which are estimated at tens of millions of dollars, the press service of Naftohaz Ukrayiny said.
It is noted that this decision is part of Naftogaz’s global strategy to recover compensation for losses caused by the seizure of assets of the group’s companies in Crimea according to the decision of the Hague arbitration.
“This is also the first publicly known successful seizure of assets outside of Ukraine in execution of an arbitral award in cases involving claims by Ukrainian companies against Russia for expropriation of property in Crimea in 2014. He is an intermediate step on the way to the actual recovery of assets in favor of the group “Naftogaz”, – stated in the message.
The head of Naftogaz Alexey Chernyshev noted that the Russian Federation refuses to voluntarily pay the funds provided by the Hague decision, so the company “continues to use all available mechanisms for their recovery”.
“Today we are one step closer to restoring justice. At the same time, we are taking active steps to enforce the arbitration award in other target jurisdictions where there are Russian assets,” the official said.
It is also reported that interest stipulated for non-payment of funds in accordance with the arbitration award continues to accrue until full payment of compensation under the arbitration award.
Naftogaz explained that they are being represented in Finland by attorneys Mikko Leppa and Tatu Jaarinen of the law firm HPP Attorneys, supported by Covington & Burling, which is acting as lead legal counsel to coordinate Naftogaz’s international enforcement efforts.