Legal support by Interlegal damage recovery from russia for the fired ship.

New times dictate new cases. Our regular Client, whose ship was in Mariupol Sea Port, Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, applied to Interlegal for legal support. Horror and absurdity of the events is caused by the fact that a commercial ship under a foreign flag, engaged in cargo operations at the sea port, was fired from the city controlled by the aggressor’s militants.

Our project team joined the case and started working actively upon a strategy and action plan under such a difficult and important challenge. First, we analyzed the potential ways of actions, considered the options of tribunals, international institutions, described the pros and cons of such options. By means of logic and analytical solutions, we have made the simplest decision: it is worth applying to the Ukrainian court, because it is:

a) real; b) implemented in an easier way; c) potentially effective, as set below.

We drew up an action plan, where we decided that jointly with the Client we will actively fix circumstances by all the possible means, will fix cost of the lost property and will submit an application on crime commitment to the Security Service of Ukraine.

We understood that recognizing a person as a victim under such criminal proceedings is already a good tool for further communication with counteragents, insurance companies, as well as worthy evidence in judicial settlement of the dispute on damage recovery. We insist that such an algorithm of actions is also possible in cases of forced detention of vessels in the Ukrainian sea ports due to military aggression by russia.

Now the case proceedings are active and the issue is still open, but we are working and believe in our victory and in actual receiving funds by the Client. In this regard, we are also sincere with our clients that now enforcement of any decisions against russia is impossible due to political will of the country and outright disregard for any rules of international law on its part. Obviously, such enforcement will be possible due to special foundations in Ukraine, which will be replenished at the expense of russian assets or certain payments, and only then our state will get something like recourse against russia, but it is important for business and people that such a mechanism should exist.

We have applied to the Security Service of Ukraine and are drafting an application to the court. Interlegal law team, namely lawyers Taras Dragan and Irina Maltseva, junior lawyer Viacheslav Solodenko, managed by senior associate Karyna Gorovaya, are leading the case.

We will keep you informed, but the main is that we should fight on all fronts, because no one can take ours when it is really ours.