MOSCOW (MRC) -- OAO Rosneft’s lawsuit challenging U.K. sanctions targeting Russia’s conduct in Ukraine was sent to a European Union court by a pair of London judges, said Bloomberg.
Judge Jack Beatson said in London Tuesday that the U.K. tribunal couldn’t resolve all the legal issues raised by Russia’s largest oil producer and the case would be sent to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
Rosneft is among Russian companies already appealing to European courts in an effort to overturn sanctions imposed over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies in Ukraine, which have helped stoke capital outflows and a ruble collapse and pushed Russian’s economy to the brink of recession.
EU leaders threatened to tighten sanctions on Russia as soon as Thursday over its alleged support for pro-Kremlin rebels in eastern Ukraine, who are engaged in the worst clashes with government troops since a September truce.
Rosneft lawyer Pushpinder Saini argued in court that the U.K. sanctions were too vague. Phrases including "deepwater" and shale exploration, and financial assistance need to be better defined. Saini also said that it’s not clear whether the restrictions cover global depository receipts.
"Rosneft was not named" among five Russian entities singled out, Saini said. "But Rosneft is the party that will suffer."
Another lawyer for Rosneft, Joe Hage of Joseph Hage Aaronson LLP, said in an e-mail, "We are pleased that at an expedited hearing the English High Court decided to refer the case to the European Court of Justice for a ruling on the validity and effect of the EU sanctions."
Tim Ward, a lawyer for the U.K. government, said Rosneft’s complaints were :artificial” and the definitions in the sanctions were "sufficiently clear."
He said the restrictions were meant to place a cost on Russia’s activity in the Ukraine and it was "unthinkable" that the European community intended them to depend on the technical issues Rosneft was raising.
Russia’s two biggest banks, Sberbank and VTB Group, have also appealed their inclusion on sanctions lists at the EU court, as has Vnesheconombank, or VEB, and its Ukrainian unit Prominvestbank. OAO Gazprom Neft and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg have also filed appeals.
EU foreign ministers are meeting on Jan. 29 to consider whether tighter sanctions on Russia related to eastern Ukraine are appropriate.
MRC