Rosneft along with Bashneft and the Republic of Bashkortostan had brought the claims in the Republic of Bashkortostan Arbitration Court against Sistema and JSC Sistema Invest, seeking damages allegedly faced by them due to the restructuring of Bashneft.
Sistema responding to the court ruling stated: “Sistema PJSFC disagrees with today’s court decision, which it considers to be unlawful and unfounded, and will file an appeal with the Eighteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal in Chelyabinsk within the time limit prescribed by the law.
“The decision of the Republic of Bashkortostan Arbitration Court will not come into effect until such time as the appeal court makes its decision.”
In 2009, Sistema announced that it will acquire a controlling stake in Bashneft for $2.5bn. But five years later, the Government of Russia seized its stake deeming the privatization of the oil company as illegal.
In October 2016, Rosneft purchased a controlling stake of nearly 50% in Bashneft from the Russian government for RUB329.69bn ($5.58bn). In May this year, Rosneft filed a lawsuit against Sistema for allegedly stripping certain assets from Bashneft and had sought a compensation of RUB171bn ($2.89bn).
Sistema spokesman Sergei Kopytov was quoted by Reuters as saying: "On the whole the process has been one-sided without any impartiality at all, which had predetermined today's ruling."
Although, Rosneft would have to settle for a lesser amount than its initial claim, a spokesman of the company told the publication that it was satisfied with the court ruling.
Image: Bashneft oil pump in Bashkortostan. Photo: courtesy of Acodered/Wikipedia.org.
