VICTORY OVER THE RUSSIANS: Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company (UDP) WILL CONTINUE TO WORK ON THE SECTION OF THE DANUBE IN SERBIA
The UDP won its first legal victory in Serbia. According to the company's appeal, the illegal seizure of more than two dozen steamships was lifted.
The local company NIS GAZPROM NEFT, which previously engaged in bunkering of the UDP fleet, was the initiator of the lawsuit and arrest (as measures to secure the lawsuit). Even before the beginning of the Russian aggression, the shipping company was in debt to the supplier. But NIS GAZPROM NEFT considered this debt as current and had no claims regarding its repayment.
After the Russian invasion, the company turned to the shipping company with a demand to repay the debt.
UDP informed the supplier that the funds cannot be paid due to the aggression of Russia and the restrictive measures of our government. After all, the majority owner of the Serbian company is GAZPROM NEFT JSC and GAZPROM JSC, which in turn are controlled by the aggressor country.
The Cabinet of Ministers and the National Bank forbid any settlements with legal entities and individuals related to the Russian Federation. The Verkhovna Rada approved the corresponding changes to the Criminal Code.
At the end of June, one of the vessels of the UDP was detained in the Serbian Veliko Hradište. It turned out that NIS GAZPROM NEFT managed to obtain a pre-trial decision to seize the UDP fleet. Our company was not notified of this in the manner established by Serbian legislation.
Thus, the company temporarily lost the opportunity to work not only in the Serbian section, but also higher up the Danube.
Thanks to the concerted actions of shipping lawyers, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Embassy of Ukraine in Serbia, the arrest of the fleet was lifted. The company can once again operate along the entire length of the Danube.
Unfortunately, two of our vessels are still detained in the ports of Serbia, and the review of the appeal is ongoing. We are solving this issue. We are preparing for court proceedings and are preparing counterclaims against opponents for huge sums.
UDP will insist that NIS GAZPROM NEFT should compensate UDP for losses related to fleet downtime.
At the same time, the UDP initiated an investigation into the terms of fuel purchases from NIS GAZPROM NEFT under the previous leadership of the UDP. There are all signs that the supply was made at inflated prices. The company hopes that the law enforcement officers will quickly investigate this case and the culprits will be brought to justice.
There is no doubt that the Russian-initiated attack on the UDP is part of economic aggression. The enemy tried to block our work in order to disrupt export deliveries of Ukrainian agricultural products. They simply did not expect that the shipping industry would be able to redeploy the fleet to the Lower Danube very quickly.
Collaborators in Ukraine help to block the fleet - they spread fakes and deliberately discredit the Ukrainian side, weakening the position of the UDP in the courts. According to preliminary information, one of the ex-leaders of the UDP cooperates with the Russians. But, of course, the final conclusions are made by law enforcement agencies and the court.