Hague court orders Russia to pay Ukrainian energy company $44 million for lost gas stations in Crimea

An international arbitration court in The Hague has ordered the Russian government to pay the Ukrainian company Ukrnafta $44.4 million in compensation for seizing 16 of the company’s Crimean gas stations when the peninsula was annexed in 2014.

The court also mandated that Russia pay $3.5 million in arbitration costs and $5.5 million in interest. Ukrnafta’s lawsuit, which was based on a 1998 agreement between Russia and Ukraine, is the latest in a string of at least six cases in which Ukrainian companies that owned property in the Crimea won compensation for that property from the Russian government in court. The Russian government has refused to recognize the jurisdiction of international arbitrators in such cases.