Luhansk Court Orders Russia to Pay $1.6 Million for Seized Svatove Seeds

The Commercial Court of Luhansk Oblast has ordered the Russian state to pay 65.36 million hryvnia, approximately 1.6 million dollars, to the Ukrainian firm Oliiar. The compensation covers a specific stock of sunflower seeds that vanished from a warehouse in occupied Svatove.

The dispute traces back to October 2021, when Oliiar contracted to buy 4,700 tonnes of the 2021 harvest from Prydniprovske Agrarian Company LLC. The company arranged for Svatove-Ahro LLC to store the crop. By 24 February 2022, the facility had shipped 2,592 tonnes to Oliiar, leaving 2,107 tonnes in storage when the full-scale invasion began.

Russian armed groups subsequently seized the warehouse premises holding the remaining seeds. Oliiar never recovered that portion of its purchase. The court found that the company provided conclusive evidence linking the loss directly to Russia's armed aggression.

The judgment names the Russian Ministry of Justice as the entity responsible for the payment. The court set the specific figure based on an expert valuation of the lost crop.

Oliiar is a private company registered in Pustomyty, Lviv Oblast. Iryna Zalizna serves as its founder, and Iryna Podoba is its director.

This decision follows a previous ruling by the same court. That earlier order required Russia to pay 51.67 million hryvnia, about 1.25 million dollars, to Trading House Agrokhim LLC for property lost in Svatove and Kakhovka.