Permanent Arbitration Court in The Hague announced the first decision on the dispute with Russia over the annexation of the Crimea and the expropriation of property of Ukrainian companies.

Eighteen Ukrainian companies and former chairman of the board of PrivatBank Alexander Dubilet in June 2015 filed a lawsuit on Russia's breach of the agreement with Ukraine on investment activities from 1998.

As Vitaly Chervonenko writes for the Air Force News Ukraine, entrepreneurs complained that Moscow was hampering their investment activities, which ultimately led to the "expropriation of these investments".

"On May 2, 2018, having conferred, the Arbitral Tribunal passed a unanimous decision concerning liability issues for damages," the court said..

The text of the decision itself is confidential and not made public.

The report indicated that the Russian Federation did not participate in the process and refused to provide explanations. The court noted that as early as 2015, the Russian Federation reported that "an agreement on investment activities can not be the basis for the formation of arbitration" and that Russia "does not recognize the jurisdiction of international arbitration under Permanent Court of Arbitration for the consideration of the dispute with the plaintiffs ".

Non-recognition of the jurisdiction of the tribunal practically excludes the voluntary implementation of its decision.

After the annexation of the Crimea by Russia in 2014, the property of many Ukrainian private and state enterprises nationalized.

Permanent Arbitration Court - an international organization for resolving economic disputes. The members of the court are 121 countries of the world.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Lana Zerkal, who represents the state in a number of international processes against Russia, revealed some details of the verdict.

"There is a first decision in compensation for property lost as a result of the occupation of Crimea. And the first victory on this section of the legal front, "- wrote Zerkal in Facebook.

According to her, the judges decided that Russia is responsible for its actions in the Crimea on the basis of an agreement on mutual protection of investments between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

The nationalization of property by the Russian authorities is recognized as a violation of the investment agreement.

According to Lana Zerkal, Russia must pay compensation of $ 159 million to the affected companies, as well as to compensate for the costs associated with the litigation.

She stressed that this precedent is extremely important for Ukraine, after all, the Hague arbitration in the near future should complete consideration of such claims regarding the actions of Russia in the Crimea from Naftogaz, Sberbank, Ukrnafta and Privatbank,.

"We know that the circle of companies that are preparing similar claims is becoming more and more. I urge all companies that have lost property in the Crimea to actively fight for compensation for losses, "Zerkal said..

She admitted that Russia ignores this process and almost all investment cases against it, and therefore it will not be easy to get these funds.

This is well illustrated by the case of former Yukos shareholders against Russia.

A number of companies won an arbitration tribunal in the Hague case against Russia to recover $ 50 billion. The case concerned unlawful actions by the Russian authorities against YUKOS. However, I can not collect money.

The District Court of The Hague subsequently recognized the decision of the tribunal as incompetent, after which the collection of money from Russia for the seizure of property in other countries was significantly complicated.

The first judicial victory was won by 19 subjects - 18 companies in real estate and former head of Privatbank Alexander Dubilet.

Among the plaintiffs were mainly construction companies, for example, Everest Estate, Edelveis-2000, Krim Development, Aerobud, Privatoffice, Privatland, Finansovyy Kapital.

Last year, the international court of the United Nations in The Hague began the consideration of the case on the suit of Ukraine on the involvement of Moscow in the financing of terrorism in the Donbass and human rights violations in the annexed Crimea.

Russia takes part in it, and the court ordered Moscow to refrain from the final verdict from violating the rights of the Crimean Tatars on the peninsula, in particular from restrictions on representation of their interests in their own bodies, including Medjelis.

He also ordered Russia to ensure the right to study in the Ukrainian language in the Crimea.

The Ukrainian side believes that these temporary obligations are not being fulfilled. Therefore, she asked the court to provide an interpretation of his decision on the application of provisional measures, adopted on April 19, 2017.