Russia Sues Rheinmetall for €47 Million Over a Contract Canceled Because of Its Own Crimea Occupation

Russia is trying to sue German defense company Rheinmetall over a military training center contract that was halted after Moscow’s occupation of Crimea, Russian outlet RBC reported on June 3.

According to the report, Moscow’s military prosecutor’s office and Garrison JSC, a company subordinate to Russia’s Defense Ministry, are seeking €47.2 million from Rheinmetall.

The plaintiffs are asking Moscow’s Arbitration Court to recognize the contract for the construction and equipping of a Russian Ground Forces combat training center in Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region, as terminated. The case is being heard behind closed doors.

In 2011, Rheinmetall and the former Russian company Oboronservis signed a contract for the supply of a live training system, as well as system engineering and quality control services.

The German company was expected to build the Mulino training center by mid-2014. Russia’s Defense Ministry had also said it planned to purchase German laser firing simulators to train troops in combat shooting skills.

After Russia occupied Crimea, Germany said it would no longer export defense technology to Russia and revoked permission for Rheinmetall to take part in the construction of the training facility.

Russia’s Defense Ministry had previously filed a claim against Rheinmetall in a Swiss court, but its demands were rejected.

Russian lawyers now acknowledge that actually recovering the money from the German company would be practically impossible.

Earlier, Russia’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling ordering Google to pay an extraordinary 91.5 quintillion rubles (about $1.2 quintillion)—a figure roughly one million times larger than the global gross domestic product, according to court materials.

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