The High Court of England and Wales, as part of a lawsuit by Yukos shareholders, seized a plot of land in the prestigious Kensington area, owned by Russia. This was announced by GML Group, the former majority shareholder of YUKOS; The Telegraph newspaper was the first to draw attention to the release.
We are talking about a site on Warrick Road. According to an extract from the website of the government of the kingdom, which Mediazona received, it was bought by the Russian government in 2006 for 8 million 125 thousand pounds. As the Irish Examiner wrote, initially they planned to build housing there for embassy employees and a school for their children.
At the same time actual owner of the objectbecame Embassy Development Company. According to the Open Sanctions project, this is an offshore VTB bank registered on the island of Jersey. Subsequently, the design of an elite residential complex commissioned by the bank was published by the architect bureau Aukett Swanke. Although they applied for planning permission in 2014, work there never began and the site remains fenced off.
The High Court in London issued a decision on the seizure on January 23, it came into force on January 31, the extract says.
It relates to proceedings that took place at the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague. In 2014, this court ordered Russia to pay the former majority shareholders of Yukos $50 billion for the expropriation of assets. Taking into account interest, the amount has now reached 57 billion.
After the 2014 decision, former Yukos shareholders filed a lawsuit in a London court in an attempt to seize assets linked to Russia, but the case was delayed due to appeals in the Netherlands. In 2022, the High Court of England and Wales reinstated the review. The former owners of the company filed similar lawsuits in other countries.
Project of a residential complex on property owned by Russia and VTB site/Bureau Auckett Swanke