Banks, Financial Services, Legislation, Lithuania, Russia

Lithuania will submit this position to a Moscow arbitration court that is hearing Antonov's lawsui

Andrius Bambalas of the law office Fort thinks that the Justice Ministry's decision to exercise sovereign immunity is a right move.

"I believe this is the right decision. There is an international law principle that the courts of one state cannot hear disputes against another state without its consent," he told.

According to the lawyer, Antonov basically accuses the Lithuanian state of expropriation of Snoras' shares.

"Expropriation is not an area of private law. It is an area of public law of a sovereign state. In this case, therefore, there must be either the Lithuanian state's consent or the dispute has to be resolved in that state (Lithuania), or an international dispute resolution mechanism has to be chosen," he said.

The Justice Ministry says that Lithuania will invoke state immunity from the jurisdiction of Russian courts, including immunity from interim measures, enforcement of decisions and other actions. It also emphasizes that international rules were not followed while submitting procedural documents.

The government is to instruct the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry to send a diplomatic note to Russia over the Moscow arbitration court's actions.

The Justice Ministry on Aug. 11 was notified of a lawsuit worth 40.1 bln rubles (EUR 558 mln) filed by Antonov against Lithuania. The former banker is seeking 20.2 bln rubles (EUR 281 mln) in material damages and another 19.9 bln rubles (EUR 277 mln) euros in damages to his business reputation.

The Moscow arbitration court is scheduled to start the hearing of the suit on Sept. 22.