Austrian court sides with Danube Shipping Company in dispute with Russians over real estate

A court in Vienna has rejected the claims of the Russian Federation regarding the buildings of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company in the center of the Austrian capital.

This was announced by the General Director of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company , Dmytro Moskalenko.

According to him, back in 1975, the Embassy of the USSR in Austria purchased a building and land in the center of Vienna. The building and land were paid for by the Danube Shipping Company, which used the property in its operations. A few years later, another building was constructed next to the old one, which housed the Main Agency of the shipping company in Austria.

After the declaration of independence, the property remained under the control of the UDP, although the USSR was formally considered the owner. Currently, the site and buildings are valued at tens of millions of euros. This is the most expensive, fashionable district of Vienna. In 2008, the Russians brazenly changed the owner of the building from the USSR to the Russian Federation. They argued that it was the Russian Federation that had paid the debts of the former USSR and was the sole successor to the Soviet Union. Russian lawyers argue that the ex-republics have abandoned the external obligations of the USSR, and therefore Russia is the sole heir to the Soviet empire.

Prior to the full-scale invasion, the UDP lost several instances, but still sued for its buildings.

Earlier, in August 2023, the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company sued Gazprom for its vessels that had been arrested at the suit. The tugboat Bratislava and the self-propelled ship Mechanic Golovatsky, which were arrested at the suit of Nis Gazprom Neft, are returning to Ukraine from Serbia. The previous management of the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority ordered the bunkering service for their vessels from the Russians, so when the new management stopped any relations with the enemy, the Russians tried to use the court.

Also in August 2022, the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company was forced to hire armed guards to defend the building of its subsidiary in Budapest, Hungary.

Кирило Бойко