Moscow’s court of arbitration dismissed the German company Siemens’ claim to arrest Crimean turbines it had supplied to Russia and impose a ban on their installment.

The ruling by Moscow’s Arbitration Court responded to a lawsuit filed by Russia’s Technopromexport and Siemens Gas Turbines Technologies, a joint venture of Siemens AG and Power Machines company against a Russian state firm in July after four turbines which it had sold for use in Russia turned up in the Moscow-annexed region.

However, Moscow’s court agreed to hear on September 18 Siemens’ complaint against Russia’s Rostec State Corporation concerning the alleged delivery of its turbines for power stations to Crimea in violation of EU sanctions, the court’s schedule showed.

Earlier in August, the EU imposed additional sanctions on Moscow over the scandal surrounding the transfer of turbines supplied by German company Siemens to the Russian peninsula of Crimea in violation of previous Brussels’ sanctions.

On July 11, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said that the new power plants in Crimea would be equipped with turbines manufactured in Russia and not with ones imported from the West. Commenting on the situation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that all products used in Crimea made in Russia.

Sergei Aksyonov, head of the Kremlin-backed local government in Crimea, told that the electrification of the peninsula was going ahead as planned. He did not elaborate. When asked if foreign experts were still needed to launch electric power plants, Aksyonov said that Crimea did not need them “100 percent”.

Meanwhile, Siemens spokesperson Wolfram Trost told Power Engineering International, “In the main proceedings, the court has admitted the lawsuit filed by Siemens AG to revoke the contract but has simultaneously refused to grant a preliminary injunction. This decision does not provide a basis for drawing any conclusions regarding the likelihood of success in the main proceedings.”

Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014 after almost 96 percent of its voters supported the move through a referendum held in March 2014. Kiev, as well as Brussels and Washington, did not recognize the referendum results. Russian authorities have repeatedly said that the Crimean residents decided to rejoin Russia in a democratic procedure and that the referendum was conducted in compliance with the international law.

The violation of sanctions has prompted the EU to expand penalties against Russia. The new sanctions include Deputy Energy Minister Andrei Cherezov and three Russian companies.
Moscow has said the EU decision to expand sanctions is politically motivated and illegal.