UK Supreme Court backs Ukraine over Russian ‘duress’ loan
Written by Taiwo Adekola on March 15, 2023
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared a “decisive victory” over Russia in a UK court after judges ruled Wednesday that a long-running financial dispute can go to a full trial.
The Supreme Court in London rejected a bid by a Russian-backed investment trust to throw out the case, which concerns a $3 billion loan taken out in 2013, without a trial.
Ukraine argues that it was forced to issue the Eurobonds to Russia under duress, shortly before Moscow invaded Crimea in 2014.
The bonds were meant to be repaid in December 2015.
But Ukraine refused, contending that Russia had sought to deflect it from closer engagement with the European Union by binding it into an unfair arrangement.
Russia brought the case in February 2016, arguing it was only suing “after repeated unsuccessful attempts to engage Ukraine in constructive dialogue about restructuring the debt”.
A lower court in the UK had endorsed Russia’s attempt to throw out the Ukrainian defence.
But that was overturned on appeal, and a panel of five judges on the Supreme Court unanimously sided with Kyiv, agreeing with the appeals court that Ukraine has “an arguable and justifiable defence of duress”.
Their judgment concerns only the circumstances of the loan at the time, and not Russia’s invasion of the rest of Ukraine last year.
There was no immediate response from Moscow. No trial date has been set yet.