Ukraine's biggest natural gas company is suing the Russians once more, this time over Russian seizure of its assets in Crimea.
Naftogaz and six of its subsidiaries began an arbitration against Russia on Monday to recover damages arising from Russia's seizure of the group’s assets in Crimea. Crimea, once a chunk of Ukrainian real estate, was annexed by Russia in March 2014. The annexation process began quickly and happened when Moscow perceived that the Ukrainian government was being backed by Washington. Russia's Black Sea fleet is located in Crimea and is its only warm water military port.
Naftogaz filed the arbitration under the Russia-Ukraine bilateral investment treaty. Naftogaz has estimated the group’s damages at $2.6 billion in lost assets.
Naftogaz said in a statement on Oct. 19 that Russia's Crimea land grab resulted in a "well-orchestrated scheme to deprive Ukrainian companies of their property, without payment of compensation."
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Naftogaz alleges in its suit that Russia's actions violated the Russia-Ukraine bilateral investment treaty, which requires Russia to respect and protect Ukrainian-owned assets, including those in Crimea.
Russia supposedly took steps to formally nationalize Naftogaz’s assets in Crimea, including sending armed men to commandeer Naftogaz’s drilling platforms and illegally transferring almost all of Naftogaz’s Crimea-based assets to a Russian state-owned company. They did not name the company.
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Naftogaz is a state-owned group of companies engaged in the exploration, development, production, transportation, processing, and marketing of oil and gas.
The six Naftogaz subsidiaries that are part of the suit include Chornomornaftogaz, Ukrtransgaz, Likvo, Ukrgasvydobuvannya, Ukrtransnafta, and Gaz Ukraiiny.
