MOSCOW – The Law Debenture Trust, which represents the Russian Federation as the holder of $3 billion in Ukrainian eurobonds, has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on the Russian Finance Ministry’s behalf against Ukraine’s argument that the bonds were issued under pressure from Russia, the Finance Ministry’s press office said.
It is expected the appeal will be heard no sooner than June 2019.
The UK’s Court of Appeal on Sept. 14 issued a verdict on Ukraine’s appeal of the London High Court ruling obligating Ukraine to redeem its debt and pay interest on a bond issue acquired by Russia with funds from the National Welfare Fund. The Court of Appeal confirmed the lawfulness of the refusal to grant Ukraine consideration of three of the four arguments stated in order to avoid meeting its obligations with respect to these eurobonds. The court did not grant consideration of all of the argument stated by Ukraine, determining that they did not minimal criteria for their consideration in full-fledged court proceedings envisaging the calling of witnesses, consideration and analysis of documents, as well as other evidence presented by the parties to the dispute.
