To sue in Russia: as Savings Bank fought from the Russian Federation for the loss of assets in the Crimea.

The Paris Court of Appeal denied Russia an attempt to cancel the decision to compensate for $ 1.5 billion in favor of the Savings Bank for the loss of assets in Crimea. This is an important precedent that It opens the path to real losses from Russia through international courts and inspires other Ukrainian companies to fight for justice. Rosa Tapanova, a member of the supervisory board of Savings Bank, and Arsen Milyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Savings Bank, tell how it is to fight against Russia in the international legal arena

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On July 1, the Court of Appeal of Paris denied Russia to revoke the decision of 2018 to compensate for the losses that Oschadbank suffered as a result of the annexation of Crimea. This is a key solution that offset all the arguments of Russia, which tries to freeze the process of execution of arbitration in all foreign jurisdictions, where Oschadbank submits it for recognition.

French legislation also provides for the possibility of appealing this decision in the Court of Cassation. But Russia’s chances are close to zero, because in 2022, the Cassation Court of France expressed its position on all its arguments when he returned the case to the Paris Court of Appeal. In addition, it is a long process, and the decision of the arbitration tribunal is already subject to forced execution in France.

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More than a ten -year confrontation The case itself began in 2014, when Oschadbank began to collect evidence of damage caused by the expropriation of his assets in Crimea.

In 2018, the International Commercial Court of Commercial Court on the basis of a mutual investment protection agreement issued a decision that has leaped about $ 1.2 billion from Russia in favor of the Savings Bank.

Russia’s obligations were to pay € 300,000 court costs when considering a case in Paris. Against the background of losses, the amount is insignificant but symbolic.

Russia has evaded from participation in international arbitration, but now this situation has changed. The Russian Federation actively prevents the Savings Bank’s intentions to execute the decision of the arbitration tribunal and tries to delay this process in any way, and the bank respectively opposes it.

The Savings Bank has more chances to finally turn the court decision into money, but the process is far from completing. Much needs to be done to renew justice and get compensation. However, there are opportunities for this. And there is a positive dynamics of events.

The struggle is ongoing Today, Savings Bank continues the process of recognition and enforcement of the decision of the arbitration tribunal. Lawsuations occur in the United Kingdom and the United States. In parallel, the assets of the aggressor country are being searched, we turn to those foreign jurisdictions that are the signatories of the New York Convention, which potentially have assets of the Russian Federation, and we will be able to recover them.

The complexity and duration of the enforcement process of the decision of the arbitration tribunal are due to the fact that it must be recognized in every foreign jurisdiction, where the assets of the Russian Federation may potentially be and which do not have diplomatic immunity. These are the so -called commercial assets of the state. There is no other path of enforcement of the decision of the arbitration tribunal in international law.

In France, the Savings Bank’s claim has been seized on the Russian Federation for the amount of € 87 million. Ideally, after the sale of this property, Savings Bank will receive a refund. But this is also a difficult way – the Russian Federation actively counteracts the attempts of “Oschad” to renew justice. But it is in France that we have the best chance of success. Although we do not dare to talk about the specific timing of compensation.

Russia will actively prove that these assets are sovereign and use any legal mechanisms to delay the process. And, unfortunately, this is not a year or two, because we know the problem of sovereign assets that are almost impossible to confiscate without proving that these assets are the commercial activity of the state.

In every country in which the arbitration tribunal decision can be enforced, there is a judicial procedure that must be gone before the assets of the Russian Federation will be implemented in a compulsory manner and the bank will receive something.

An example for others Savings became the pioneer in this case. We have chosen the right legal strategy by using the investment protection legislation. We urge other businesses to repeat our way. Here are some tips.

The main key to success is careful documentation of the damage caused. At one time, many media bypassed a photo of papers in the office of the former chairman of the Board of Oschad Andrei Pishny with the evidence base that the bank transferred to the arbitration. It was 30,000 pages, 70 kg of weight, the height of papers in human height – 170 cm.

Another key point is the right choice of an international legal advisor, which cannot be done without. Our partner is Quinn Ema Nuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP is a world legal leader in such disputes.

The third step is that the process of obtaining compensation should be treated as a strategic priority. It is not only that Savings should receive $ 1.5 billion in compensation, but that together all businesses can get much larger amounts. And this is real, because the courts of France confirmed that international legal responsibility is violating for violation of international norms, and therefore Russia as an aggressor and offender of international obligations should compensate for the damage caused.

What about the losses received by the Savings after the start of a full -scale invasion? From the very beginning of the Great War, we capture the loss of each asset and work on the strategy of loss of losses from Russia, using all available international legal mechanisms.

Like all business in Ukraine, we expect the opening of the International Register of losses. We are tuned to a long struggle, which must be ended in our victory.

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