On 13 March 2024, the Commercial Court of Kaliningrad Region published its judgment in the Yantar case.
In 2013, the Baltic shipyard Yantar sued the Ukrainian manufactory Zorya-Mashproekt for 65 million dollars for gas turbine units that were not delivered to the Russian party in 2014-2015. Supply of the units was blocked due to restrictions imposed after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.
Zorya-Mashproekt did not participate in the hearings, and service of process was not made due to obvious problems with shipments from Russia to Ukraine. “The defendant was just not notified about the process in the Russian Federation. This is a violation of the fundamental principles of due process,” said Konstantin Krasnokutskiy.
However, even if the notice had reached the Ukrainian party, it is unlikely that anything would have changed for Yantar. “We would assess the chances of real recovery as being on the verge of fantasy. If the defendant has no property in Russia or third countries, the judgment may only be enforced on the territory of Ukraine, which is obviously impossible,” added Konstantin.