London’s High Court finds unpersuasive Ukraine’s arguments disfavoring the recognition of indebtedness.

The Russian Finance Ministry announced that the High Court of London issued its final judgment in Russia’s lawsuit against Ukraine to recover USD3 billion. The ruling makes it obligatory upon the Kiev government to pay back the balance of the debt, plus interest.

“On March 29, 2017, London’s High Court issued its final judgment after examining Russia’s request for hearing its lawsuit against Ukraine to the effect that Ukraine is obligated to pay Russia the Eurobond nominal value of USD3 billion and the amount of any interest accrued,” the Finance Ministry reported.

“The court announced its final decision obligating Ukraine to pay Russia the Eurobond debt in full. No further hearings on this issue in the London High Court are expected,” the Finance Ministry said.

“The High Court of London has acknowledged that the defendant lacks any arguments to negate the claims as to the existence of the Eurobond debt and, as a consequence, there is no need to examine the arguments provided by counsel for the defense in the course of a full-scale judicial proceeding. In particular, the court pointed out in its judgment that the matter involved the demand to satisfy a debt instrument and that the defendant lacked any arguments in favor of recognizing the claim as unsubstantiated,” the Finance Ministry said.

Ukraine released a statement saying that it intended to appeal the London High Court’s ruling.

The controversy between the two nations started in December 2013, when Russia bought Ukraine’s USD3-billion Eurobond with the monies from the National Welfare Fund. Ukraine paid the first three Eurobond coupons, but then refused to re-pay the Eurobond’s principal and the last coupon in December 2015. The total payment that was supposed to be made at that time was USD3.075 billion.

In February 2016, following unsuccessful efforts to resolve the matter short of litigation, Russia requested the Law Debenture Trust Corporation that acted as the Trustee on the Eurobond to initiate legal action against Ukraine in the High Court of London.

London’s High Court made its ruling in the case on a summary judgment submission, Judge William Blair said. Judge Blair presided over a three-day hearing on this matter in January 2017.

“The Trustee is entitled to summary judgment,” the judge said, reading out the ruling.

As the court said in its ruling, “Summary judgment is the procedure by which the court may decide a claim without a trial, where the claimant can show that the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the claim.”