According to Russia’s Finance Ministry, London's High
Court recognizes Ukraine has no arguments against Russian debt recognition.
MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Finance Ministry believes that by its judgment on the expedited procedure of examining Russia’s lawsuit versus Ukraine on the $3bln debt recovery the High Court of London has obliged Kiev to repay debt and interest to Moscow, the ministry’s press office said on Wednesday.
"On March 29, 2017, London’s High Court passed a judgment after examining Russia’s request for hearing its lawsuit versus Ukraine in an expedited procedure that Ukraine is obliged to pay Russia the Eurobond nominal value of $3 billion and the relevant amount of accrued interest," the Finance Ministry said.
MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Finance Ministry believes that by its judgment on the expedited procedure of examining Russia’s lawsuit versus Ukraine on the $3bln debt recovery the High Court of London has obliged Kiev to repay debt and interest to Moscow, the ministry’s press office said on Wednesday.
"On March 29, 2017, London’s High Court passed a judgment after examining Russia’s request for hearing its lawsuit versus Ukraine in an expedited procedure that Ukraine is obliged to pay Russia the Eurobond nominal value of $3 billion and the relevant amount of accrued interest," the Finance Ministry said.
"The
court pronounced its final verdict obliging Ukraine to pay to Russia its
eurobond debt in full. No extra hearings on this issue in the London High Court
are due," the Finance Ministry said.
"The
High Court of London has acknowledged that the defendant lacks any arguments
that reject the claimant’s reasons about the existence of the Eurobond debt
and, as a consequence, there is no need to examine the arguments provided by
the counsel for the defense in the course of a full-scale judicial process. In
particular, the court pointed in its judgment that the talk was about the
demand to fulfil obligations under a debt instrument and the defendant lacks
any arguments for the court in favor of recognizing this claim as
unsubstantiated," the Finance Ministry said.
Meanwhile,
Ukraine has said it will appeal against the London High Court’s judgment.
Russia
purchased Ukraine’s $3 bln Eurobond in December 2013, using money of its
National Welfare Fund. After paying the first three Eurobond coupons, Ukraine
refused to repay $3.075 billion as the Eurobond’s principal and last coupon in
December 2015.
After
numerous attempts to settle the issue out of court, in February 2016 Russia
requested The Law Debenture Trust Corporation acting as the Trustee on the
Eurobond to initiate judicial proceedings against Ukraine in the High Court of
London.
London’s High Court has ruled to hear the case of Ukraine’s $3 billion debt to Russia in an expedited procedure, Judge William Blair said on Wednesday.
Judge
Blair presided over a three-day court session on this issue in January.
"The
Trustee is entitled to summary judgment," the judge said, reading out the
ruling.
As
the court said in its ruling, "Summary judgment is the procedure by which
the court may decide a claim without a trial, where the claimant can show that
the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the claim."
Source:
ITAR-TASS 30-03-2017
