The tapes have stood still since the Russian war of aggression.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf A Russian court froze all assets of German carmaker Volkswagen in Russia on Monday. According to court documents, the Russian carmaker Gaz sued VW after the German group ended the cooperation in August. Gaz had previously produced vehicles for VW at its Nizhny Novgorod plant.
One of the co-owners of Gaz is oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The 55-year-old is on Western sanctions lists.
According to a report in the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant, Gaz put the damage at 15.6 billion rubles (equivalent to 190 million euros). The lawsuit was filed on March 14 and ruled in Gaz’s favor on March 17. The news agencies Reuters and Interfax initially reported.
Kaluga: Sale of Russian VW plant is likely to be delayed
After the Russian attack on Ukraine, Volkswagen put its operations in Russia on hold and is currently trying to sell its plant in Kaluga, south of Moscow. This has a capacity of 225,000 cars per year, and production has been at a standstill since March 2022.
According to information from the Handelsblatt, three possible buyers were shortlisted until recently, including the Russian investment company AFK Sistema and the Russian car dealer Avilon. VW was recently in advanced talks about the sale of the Kaluga plant and wanted to report completion in the next few days. The news now is likely to delay the sale.
Volkswagen is currently advising on the subject and wants to comment as soon as possible.
Last week, the group presented its annual figures for 2022. It shows that the group had to write off two billion euros in connection with its Russian business. In 2022, VW sold almost 42,000 cars and 1,500 commercial vehicles in Russia, around 80 percent less than in the previous year.
With agency material
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