Photo from oschadbank.ua
The ruling was passed on November 26, 2018
The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris has ruled that Russia should pay US$1.3 billion in compensation to Ukraine's state-owned bank Oschadbank for Crimean assets lost as a result of the annexation of the peninsula by Russia.
"Today we've received an official notification of the award! It is hard to imagine the news we now need more than this one," Oschadbank Governor Andriy Pyshnyi commented on the decision on November 26. "Considering how our relations with the aggressor country have been developing, this victory is of paramount importance not only to us, but to entire Ukraine."
The ruling is dated November 26, 2018, the bank's press service told UNIAN.
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The hearings were held under the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law of 1976.
The amount of the award will be US$1.3 billion plus interest to be charged from the moment the decision until the actual payment of the compensation, it said.
The ruling is final and binding on the parties, and it should be executed without delay, the bank said.
This award is the result of four years' efforts by Oschadbank's team and its legal advisers, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP and the Ukrainian legal adviser Asters Consult law firm.
The bank says that after receiving the arbitration decision in the prescribed manner, Oschadbank will begin to take all possible actions to recover funds from the Russian Federation, and will actively seek the enforcement of the decision on Russian assets in relevant jurisdictions around the world.
UNIAN memo. In March 2014, after the Russian troops invaded Crimea, Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula, having organized a sham "referendum" on self-determination. The self-proclaimed Crimean government said that 96.77% of participating voters had supported Crimea's accession to Russia. Ukraine designated the Crimean referendum as illegitimate. On March 18, 2014, the Kremlin signed the so-called "Treaty of Accession" regarding Crimea and Sevastopol, Russia's naval base in the Black Sea. Western countries did not recognize the annexation of Crimea and introduced a series of economic sanctions against Russia and Crimea.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on August 7, 2014, obliged all Ukrainian banks to suspend any financial operations in Ukraine's Russian-controlled areas.
Oschadbank, or the State Savings Bank of Ukraine, was registered by the NBU on December 31, 1991. It is wholly owned by the state.