Ukraine to Sue for Crimean Property
Ukraine intends to sue for access to its properties in the Crimean Peninsula, a region it considers illegally occupied following the Russian annexation earlier this year, a news report said.
The country's Justice Ministry is preparing lawsuits in the name of the Ukrainian government and plans to take them to international courts, Sergei Berezenko, head of Ukraine's Public Affairs Department, said in an interview with Ukrainian magazine Novoye Vremya.
"Our dachas are still in Crimea. They're worth about 1.5 billion hryvna [$110 million]," Berezenko told the magazine, news agency UNIAN reported.
"This Ukrainian property is now being illegally held by the government forces of [Crimean Prime Minister] Sergei Aksyonov. … We are doing everything to return that property," Berezenko said. (MT)
Rosneft Seeks Designer for New $800 Million Headquarters
State-run oil giant Rosneft has put out a closed tender for the design of its new headquarters near the Moscow-City business district to become a new landmark of the cityscape at a price of up to $800 million, newspaper RBC Daily reported.
Among the contenders are architecture firms Rezerv, ABD Architects, Speech and St. Petersburg-based Yevgeny Gerasimov & Partners, the report said.
Moscow's architecture committee confirmed that the tender was taking place when contacted by the newspaper, while Rosneft declined to comment.
The city's decision to lease a five-hectare plot of land on Kutuzovsky Prospekt to Rosneft was first reported in February.
RBC Daily reported at the time that Rosneft, whose CEO Igor Sechin was blacklisted by the United States over the Ukraine crisis, had agreed to rent the land for six years at a total cost of 4.5 billion rubles ($124 million).
Nikolai Kazansky, managing partner of Colliers International, said that if the building turns out to be a high-rise, its overall construction cost could come to between $600 million and $800 million. (MT)
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
