The Helsinki District Court granted the petition of Naftogaz of Ukraine and five other companies of the Naftogaz Group and seized certain assets owned by Russia in Finland. This was reported by the company's press service.
In particular, these are real estate and other assets valued at tens of millions of dollars, the press service said.
‘This decision is part of Naftogaz's global strategy to recover compensation for losses caused by the seizure of the Group's assets in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in accordance with the decision of the Hague Arbitration Court. It is also the first publicly known successful seizure of assets outside Ukraine to enforce an arbitral award in cases involving claims by Ukrainian companies against Russia over the expropriation of property in Crimea in 2014. It is an intermediate step towards the actual recovery of assets in favour of Naftogaz Group,’ the statement said.
The interest provided for non-payment of funds in accordance with the arbitral award continues to accrue until the full payment of compensation under the arbitral award.
‘Since Russia refuses to voluntarily pay Naftogaz the funds stipulated by the Hague award, we continue to use all available mechanisms to recover them. Today we are one step closer to restoring justice. At the same time, we are taking active steps to enforce the arbitral award in other target jurisdictions where we have Russian assets,’ commented Oleksiy Chernyshov, CEO of Naftogaz Group, on the Finnish court's decision.