Luhansk Court Orders Moscow to Pay $1.6 Million for Seized Sunflower Seeds

The Commercial Court of Luhansk Oblast ruled on Friday that the Russian state owes $1.6 million to a private Ukrainian company. The judgment requires the Russian Ministry of Justice to pay UAH 65.36 million to Oliiar. The court determined that the firm lost a substantial portion of its sunflower seed inventory when Russian forces seized its storage facility in Svatove.

The dispute traces back to October 2021, when Oliiar contracted with Prydniprovske Agrarian Company LLC to buy 4,700 tonnes of the 2021 harvest. The company arranged for Svatove-Ahro LLC to store the crop in a local warehouse. The supplier delivered the full amount, and the storage facility shipped 2,592 tonnes to Oliiar by the end of February 2022.

The remaining 2,107 tonnes stayed in the Svatove warehouse. Russian armed groups took control of the premises following the full-scale invasion. Oliiar never regained access to that final batch of seeds.

The court found that the evidence proved the loss was a direct result of the armed aggression. An expert valuation set the compensation amount at UAH 65.36 million. Oliiar is registered in Pustomyty, Lviv Oblast, with Iryna Zalizna as founder and Iryna Podoba as director.

This ruling aligns with a previous decision by the same court. That earlier order required Russia to pay UAH 51.67 million to Trading House Agrokhim LLC for property lost in Svatove and Kakhovka.