Naftogaz of Ukraine, together with five companies of Naftogaz Group, has filed a motion to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to confirm the earlier award by the Arbitral Tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague that bound Russia to pay $5 billion (including interest) in compensation for the damages and lost property of Naftogaz in Crimea. This was reported by the company's press service.
According to Naftogaz, in accordance with the 1958 New York Convention, Naftogaz has the right to initiate the process of recognition of and admission to award enforcement in countries hosting Russian assets.
"Since Russia has not voluntarily paid the funds to Naftogaz as provided for by the award, we intend to leverage all available mechanisms to recover these funds. We are currently working on this in the United States and other target jurisdictions,” noted Naftogaz Group CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov.
Naftogaz explains that in accordance with US laws, confirmation of the award is mandatory unless the court establishes the existence of causes to refuse or delay recognition or enforcement of the award set out in the New York Convention. Interest for non-payment of funds in accordance with the award continues to accrue until the full payment of compensation under the award.
It will be recalled that on April 12, the court in The Hague ordered the Russian Federation to pay Naftogaz $5 billion for lost assets in Crimea after the illegal annexation of the peninsula in 2014.
As reported, Naftogaz engaged the American company Covington & Burling to collect $5 billion from the Russian Federation.
