A Finnish court in Helsinki ruled in favor of Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz and ordered the seizure of Russia's assets in Finland worth tens of millions of dollars, the company’s statement read on Oct. 28.
According to a ruling in 2023 by the Permanent Arbitration Court based in The Hague, Russia is obliged to pay $5 billion to Naftogaz Group as compensation for assets illegally seized during the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014.
"Since Russia refuses to voluntarily pay Naftogaz the funds stipulated by The Hague decision, we continue to use all available mechanisms to collect them. Today, we are one step closer to restoring justice," Oleksii Chernyshov, head of the Naftogaz Group, said in the statement.
The Finnish court ordered the seizure of "real estate and other assets," Naftogaz said without providing further details.
According to the company, Russia violated the agreement between the two countries on protecting each other’s investments when it illegally annexed Crimea and expropriated strategically important energy investments of Naftogaz.
Today's ruling marks the first instance of enforcing this decision in a third-country’s court, the statement read.
Interest on the rest of Russia’s obligations to pay will continue to accrue until the full payment of the arbitration, the company noted.
Dominic Culverwell
