Russia handed $192 million bill for Crimea bank and airport losses
Arbitration tribunals at The Hague have ordered Russia to pay more than $192 million plus interest to Ukrainian investors over losses tied to its 2014 takeover of Crimea, the Permanent Court of Arbitration announced. PrivatBank is owed nearly $180.9 million for being shut out of operating in Crimea, while Aeroport Belbek LLC and businessman Igor Kolomoisky are owed $11.5 million over a lost commercial terminal at Belbek Airport.
The tribunals, acting under a 1998 Russia-Ukraine investment treaty, found back in 2017 and 2019 that Russia had assumed obligations toward these investments and then breached protections against seizing them. Interest has been accruing since April and June of 2014, and Russia initially skipped the proceedings entirely before joining in 2019 to contest liability and damages, with mixed results.
The awards are final and binding with no ordinary appeal, though Russia can still ask Dutch courts to overturn them on narrow procedural grounds. Filing such a challenge would not pause enforcement, for whatever that is worth against a government that has shown no rush to pay.
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