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in August 2016 with claims for the recovery of lost assets and remuneration for the lost of business and payable interest caused by Russia’s take over of the peninsula. The move followed another Oschadbank lawsuit worth UAH15bn ($589mn) filed in 2015. Earlier, the Ukrainian leadership urged all Ukrainian state-owned companies to follow the example of Oschadbank and recover damages for the annexation of Crimea and the loss of Ukrainian property. The ruling makes Oschadbank the first fully state-owned company to have won compensation from Russia owing to its military aggression against Ukraine, the bank highlighted, calling upon other state and private entities to follow in its path, the lender said in a statement on November 26. Meanwhile, the Russian Justice Ministry said the same day that it does not recognise the ruling, as it believes the court had no authority to consider Oschadbank’s claim against Russia. "So far, Oschadbank’s award is the biggest among those stemming from the seizure of Ukrainian assets in occupied Crimea," Alexander Paraschiy at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital wrote in a note on November 27. "It’s very unlikely that the bank will be able to get any compensation soon, but this result is very positive for the bank’s image." In particular, the bank has now a good explanation - confirmed by the conclusion of a respected international court - on why it had to be re-capitalised for $1.5bn by the government during 2014-2017, he added. Earlier, Ukraine's state-owned natural gas monopoly Naftogaz also launched a $5bn claim against Russia in the Hague, claiming damages for assets it lost following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Naftogaz and its six subsidiaries (Chornomornaftogaz, Ukrtransgaz, Likvo, Ukrgazvydobuvannya, Ukrtransnafta, and Gaz of Ukraine) submitted to the Tribunal formed with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague their claim over the compensation for damage caused by "the unlawful seizure of the group’s assets in Crimea by Russia." In September, the Kyiv court of appeals ruled to seize shares of Ukrainian subsidiaries of Russian state-owned banks Sberbank, VTB and VEB following a claim filed by 17 companies and one person, ex-chairman of the board of nationalised PrivatBank Oleksandr Dubilet, that lost their assets in Crimea as a result of its annexation by Russia in 2014. The move followed the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague's ruling that the Russian government must compensate almost two dozen Ukrainian companies associated with close confidantes of Ukrainian oligarch and ex-owner of PrivatBank Ihor Kolomoisky for their losses incurred from the illegal annexation of Crimea.
The introduction of martial law in Ukraine will not affect a privatisation tender for the state-owned 78.289% stake in the nation's leading power generating company Centrenergo scheduled for December 13, according to head of the State Property Fund (SPF) Vitaliy Trubarov. Six companies have already submitted bids.
Local elections in villages and towns in the 10 Ukrainian regions under martial law that were slated to be held on December 23 will be cancelled , UNIAN.info reports. President Petro Poroshenko imposed martial law on the 10 regions that abut the Russian border that went into effect at 9am on November 29 after a Russian naval cruiser rammed a Ukrainian naval tug boat at the entrance to the Kerch straights on November 25. Martial law was only imposed for 30 days at the insistence of Verkhovna Rada deputies instead of the 60 days the president had called for. That would have meant the presidential elections slated for March 31 next year would have to be delayed or cancelled. The Ukraine constitution expressly forbids any kind of elections from being held while the country is under martial law. Ukrainian civil rights activists decried the imposition of martial law saying the countries fragile
14 UKRAINE Country Report December 2018 www.intellinews.com