Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Even if Russia wins the case, collecting the money will be virtually impossible.
Russian officials are targeting Germany’s largest defense contractor, Rheinmetall, in a new legal battle.
The Moscow City Military Prosecutor’s Office and a company linked to Russia’s Defense Ministry are seeking a massive payout.
According to a report by the Russian news outlet RBC on June 3, the plaintiffs are seeking €47.2 million ($54.7 million) from the arms manufacturer.
Why? Because Rheinmetall canceled a contract after Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
Combat training center
This dispute stems from an ambitious deal signed in June 2011. At the time, Rheinmetall agreed to build a state-of-the-art combat training center for Russian ground forces in a village called Mulino.
The contract covered the “supply of a live training system and the provision of systems engineering and quality control services.”
The entire project came to a sudden halt in 2014.
Geopolitics intervene
The entire project came to a sudden halt in 2014.
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Western nations quickly imposed severe economic sanctions on Moscow.
The German government stepped in and blocked the defense deal, with officials stating that “the federal government considers military exports unacceptable.”
Russia ultimately completed the training center on its own in 2015. Since then, the facility has hosted large-scale military drills, including the Zapad-2025 strategic exercises, which involved roughly 100,000 service members.
Still, the Russian government never forgot about the lost German investment.
Moscow previously tried to sue Rheinmetall in a Swiss court to recover its money, but those claims were dismissed. This time, prosecutors are pursuing a different legal strategy by alleging “unjust enrichment” in a Russian court.
A theoretical victory
The legal team filed the lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court, but the public will not hear the arguments, as oversight officials chose to keep the trial behind closed doors to avoid exposing military secrets.
Even if the Moscow court rules in favor of the state, actually collecting the money will be nearly impossible.
The reason is simple: the German firm holds no significant assets within Russia, according to experts interviewed by RBC.
To collect the money, Russia would have to ask European courts to enforce the ruling, which is highly unlikely under current sanctions.
For now, the entire lawsuit appears to be more of a symbolic gesture than a realistic path to compensation.
