THE HAGUE, October 6. /TASS/. An arbitration in The Hague has awarded Ukraine’s PrivatBank a payment of nearly $180.9 million for its allegedly "expropriated" assets in Crimea, which, excluding interest, is over five times less than the bank's original claims. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which provides administrative support to the tribunal, announced the ruling.
The final award was issued on October 1. Interest accrues on the awarded $180.87 million from April 18, 2014, until the date of payment. The court also allocated the arbitration costs between the parties. The PCA did not disclose the interest rate or the cost-sharing ratio, and the text of the decision has not been made public.
PrivatBank previously stated that it was seeking more than $1 billion from Russia. The lawsuit was filed in April 2015, when oligarch Igor Kolomoisky (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist) was one of the bank's principal owners. PrivatBank was nationalized in December 2016 and is currently owned by the Kiev authorities.
Russia’s position
Russia did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague arbitration. In 2015, the Russian Justice Ministry stated that the 1998 intergovernmental agreement with Ukraine on the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments, cited by the bank, could not serve as a basis for resolving the dispute. Initially, the Russian side did not participate in the proceedings, and the arbitrator acting on its behalf was appointed by a competent authority rather than the defendant.
In 2019, Russia entered the proceedings and requested permission to present arguments regarding jurisdiction, the merits of the case, and the quantum of damages. The arbitration agreed to hear Russia only on the issue of the amount and on the objection that PrivatBank could not be considered a legitimate investor, as it had acquired its assets through corruption, fraud, and violence. In the final award, this objection was dismissed. Back in 2019, the arbitration had ruled that the claims of the second plaintiff, Finilon financial company, did not fall within its jurisdiction.
Russia’s interests in the proceedings are represented by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation and the International Centre for Legal Protection.
Russia challenged the 2017 and 2019 rulings — in which the tribunal affirmed its jurisdiction and found a breach of the agreement — in Dutch courts. The Hague Court of Appeal in 2022, and subsequently the Supreme Court of the Kingdom in December 2024, upheld those decisions. An application to set aside the final award may be filed with the same Court of Appeal within three months from the date the award is dispatched to the parties.
The bank’s exit from Crimea
PrivatBank ceased serving customers in Crimea in March 2014. On April 21, the Bank of Russia terminated the operations of the bank's branches on the peninsula, citing a failure to meet obligations to depositors. Compensation for residents of Crimea and Sevastopol — up to 700,000 rubles ($8,242) per person — was paid by Russia's Deposit Protection Fund. In September 2014, the State Council of Crimea nationalized assets located in the republic belonging to Kolomoisky and companies linked to him. Crimean authorities stated that proceeds from the sale of these assets were intended for PrivatBank depositors whose savings exceeded the compensation limit.
The bank itself also has outstanding claims against its former owners. In July 2025, the High Court of London found that they had misappropriated nearly $2 billion from PrivatBank, and in November, it ordered them to pay more than $3 billion, including interest and legal costs.
Crimea and Sevastopol became part of Russia following a referendum held on March 16, 2014 with a voter turnout exceeding 80%, 96.7% and 95.6% of participants voted for reunification with the Russian Federation, respectively. The treaty on the admission of the new constituent entities was signed on March 18 and ratified by the Federal Assembly on March 21. According to the arbitration’s findings, obligations under the agreement regarding Ukrainian investors in Crimea became binding on Russia as of that same date.
