A court in Washington, DC, has ruled that US courts have legal jurisdiction to consider the case brought by DTEK against the aggressor country russia for the seizure of its electricity assets in Crimea in 2014. This is said in the company's statement.
"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously rejected Russia's appeal and confirmed that the U.S. District Court is authorized to consider DTEK's motion to enforce an arbitration award worth more than USD 300 million," it said.
It is noted that the court rejected the russian federation's claim that it is allegedly protected by sovereign immunity, ruling that the case falls under the arbitration exception provided for by the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).
"This decision allows DTEK Krymenergo's subsidiary to continue legal actions in the United States to recover damages for assets seized after Russia's illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014," the company added.
The judges also emphasized that this decision does not address the status of Crimea and does not review the substance of the arbitral award. It solely addresses the question of whether American courts have the authority to enforce the award.
In its decision, the court noted that after russia's invasion, Ukrainian companies operating in Crimea were forcibly deprived of their "legal, visible and operational" assets without any compensation.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, before the russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, DTEK owned the energy distribution and supply company DTEK Krymenergo.
In April 2017, DTEK began the procedure for resolving an investment dispute with the aggressor country russia over the company's assets, control over which was lost as a result of the occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
In 2023, the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague recovered USD 267 million in compensation from russia in favor of DTEK for the assets seized in Crimea.
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