MOSCOW, September 13 (RAPSI) – The Twenty-First Appellate Commercial Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss two claims by Ukraine’s state bank Oschadbank seeking recovery of more than 1 billion rubles ($15.4 million) from Crimean energy providers without prejudice, according to court records.

The bank in its lawsuits demanded to collect over 710 million rubles (about $10 million) from Crimea Solar 4 and about 370 million rubles (over $5 million) from Crimea Solar 5. The companies are registered in Crimea and owned by Austrian Black Sea Renewable Energies GmbH. On July 5, the republic’s commercial court left the claims undecided. The plaintiff appealed the ruling.

Earlier, courts dismissed another two suits lodged by Ukraine’s state bank to collect over 9.5 billion rubles from Crimean companies Orion Solar and Oriol Solar.

Moreover, on August 26, Oschadbank reported that it had filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Arbitration against Russia demanding more than $1 billion for its lost assets in Crimea.

Claims under the lawsuit include cost of loss of assets in Crimea and business interruption as well as interest which would be awarded pending a final court’s resolution and prior to the actual getting the compensation calculated at the commercial rate established by the court.

According to the bank’s press office, the court will hear the lawsuit under a simplified procedure; the final hearing is planned for late March, 2017.

Oschadbank, one of the largest banks in Ukraine, reported initiation of arbitration proceedings against Russia in order to ensure protection of economy and restore investment lost in Crimea in January.