Russia Seeks €47.2 Million from Rheinmetall Over Alleged Breach of 12-Year-Old Contract

Russia has decided to sue the German defense company Rheinmetall over a contract that was canceled after the annexation of Crimea.

According to the Russian media outlet RBC, the Moscow Military Prosecutor’s Office and JSC Garnizon, a company under the Russian Ministry of Defense, are seeking to recover €47.2 million from Rheinmetall.

The plaintiffs are demanding that the contract for the construction and equipment of the Ground Forces training center in Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod, be declared terminated.

The lawsuit has been filed with the Moscow Arbitration Court, and the case is being heard behind closed doors.

In 2011, Rheinmetall and the former company Oboronservice signed a contract for the “supply of a live training system and the provision of system engineering and quality control services.”

The German company was supposed to build the training center in Mulino by mid-2014. The Russian Ministry of Defense also stated that it planned to purchase German laser shooting simulators to train troops in firing skills.

Following the occupation of Crimea, Germany announced that it would no longer export defense technologies to Russia and revoked Rheinmetall’s authorization to participate in the construction of the training facility.

Previously, Russia’s Ministry of Defense filed a lawsuit against Rheinmetall in a Swiss court, but the court rejected the ministry’s claims.

Russian legal experts acknowledge that, in practice, it is virtually impossible to recover any money from the German company.