The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague awarded the Ukrainian Privatbank compensation of $180.87 million against Russia for lost assets in Crimea. The amount is subject to interest from April 18, 2014 until final payment, and the costs of the arbitration proceedings are added to it. Thus, the total amount awarded exceeds $327 million.
In the decision in case No. 2015-21, the arbitration tribunal rejected Russia's objection that the bank's claims are illegal. Moscow also challenged the arbitration's jurisdiction, but the court found that there were grounds to consider the dispute and ordered Russia to pay compensation.
The dispute began in 2015
Privatbank initiated the proceedings in July 2015 on the basis of the bilateral agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the promotion and mutual protection of investments, signed in 1998. The dispute is related to the bank's assets in Crimea, to which it lost access after the establishment of Russian control over the peninsula in 2014.
Privatbank's Crimean network included two subsidiaries, 337 branches, 483 ATMs and 773 self-service terminals. In the arbitration, the bank is claiming compensation for seized investments, including real estate, a loan portfolio and cash.
Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of the arbitration and claims that the 1998 agreement cannot serve as a basis for initiating proceedings for assets that were on Ukrainian territory at the time of the investments. Moscow also insists that Privatbank cannot be considered a protected investor, since the assets were acquired through corruption, fraud and violence.
Bank awaits enforcement
The arbitration tribunal does not accept these objections and orders immediate payment of compensation. The final decision was issued on October 1, 2026, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration published it on October 6.
“We will take all necessary measures to ensure payment“, said Solvita Deglava, a member of the Privatbank board of directors responsible for restructuring and troubled assets. The bank said it expects the awarded amounts to be paid in full.
The decision is part of a long series of legal disputes over Ukrainian assets in Crimea. Privatbank was nationalized by the Ukrainian state in 2016, and the proceedings against Russia have been ongoing for more than 11 years since the beginning of the investment dispute.
Sources: rbc.ru, en.interfax.com.ua