The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine applied to the Economic Court of Lugansk region with a request to collect 705.6 million hryvnia (about USD25 million) from Linik (Lysychanskiy NPZ, Lugansk region) as a recourse against the lawsuit of the company lost in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) “Agrocomplex,” reports Interfax-Ukraine.

“The Justice Ministry’s claim arose as a result of the implementation of the ECtHR decision, which already paid EUR27 million from the state budget, now amounts to 705.6 million hryvnia (payment from the state budget was made several years ago at the then rate),” the deputy minister said. Justice Sergei Shklyar at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to him, on the eve of the first preparatory meeting on the case, a break was announced until February 12. “We filed motions, including on the seizure of the defendant’s property, until the court decided on the satisfaction or rejection of the petitions,” the deputy minister added.

Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Justice Pavel Petrenko in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine reported that it was about the events of the mid-1990s and early 2000s, when a number of objects were expropriated through the judicial system and the influence of the executive authorities on it oil refinery, after which the agrocomplex, the main lender of the refinery, was tried for more than 10 years in the ECHR and won a dispute with Ukraine.

Agrocomplex conducted barter operations with Russian companies on the exchange of Ukrainian food raw materials for Russian oil for the further sale of finished petroleum products. The case concerned the bankruptcy procedure of the refinery in the period 1996-2004, initiated in an attempt to repay overdue debts.

In 2011, the ECHR recognized the “Agrocomplex” as a victim of a lawsuit against the Lisichansk Oil Refinery, and two years later decided to pay EUR27 million in fair compensation to the plaintiff.

Deliveries of oil to the Lisichansk refinery were suspended in March 2012 due to its unprofitability. At the enterprise it was decided to start repairs. At that time, the plant was owned by TNK-BP, which Rosneft bought in a year.

At the end of the third quarter of 2017, Rosneft Management Company Ltd. remained the owner of the “Line”. At the end of December last year, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine authorized the Swiss Glusko Energy S.A. purchase of the Lisichansk Refinery (PJSC Linik) and the network of Rosneft filling stations in Ukraine, agreeing on the acquisition by Glusco of more than 50% of Rosneft Management Company Ltd. shares. and Fargrade Ltd. (operates the Kiev LLC Vostok, which owns a network of gas stations).

Earlier it was reported that the company Rosneft retained the Ukrainian Lisichansk refinery (PJSC Linik), the company withdrew Linik for the perimeter of the deal with Glusco Energy.

Lisichansk Oil Refinery is the second largest refinery in Ukraine, it processes refined petroleum products and produces petroleum products. Rosneft received this asset after the takeover of TNK-BP. The capacity of the Lisichansk Refinery for oil refining is 6.5 million tons, for the production of polypropylene (PP) – 100,000 tons. The enterprise was stopped in 2012 due to unprofitableness.

Rosneft is the world’s largest public oil company. The company accounts for about 5% of global oil production, and its proven reserves in the international category will exceed 5 billion tons of oil equivalent. The structure of Rosneft also includes Angarsk Polymer Plant and Ufaorgsintez, after the closing of the deal to buy Bashneft on October 12, 2016.