Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (The Greens) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin responded with sharp criticism to the federal government’s considerations of nationalizing Rosneft Germany. Getty Images / Sean Gallup, Contributor, picture alliance/dpa | Jörg Carstensen, Christophe Gateau
When it became clear in recent weeks that the federal government wanted to examine expropriating Rosneft’s shares in the Brandenburg oil refinery PCK, the Berlin law firm Malmendier Legal spoke out with a declaration of war on behalf of the Russian energy company. She threatened the federal government: “As a listed joint stock company, Rosneft will take all measures to protect the rights of its shareholders.” At the same time, she warned that such expropriation would forever damage Germany’s investment security.
The man behind the law firm is no stranger to the circles of the Federal Ministry of Economics: Bertrand Malmendier. He already represented the Russian state-owned company Rosneft when it sued the trust management of its two German subsidiaries in October 2022. At that time he demanded compensation from the federal government for the financial losses that had arisen as a result of the trust administration. In the event of a successful expropriation of Rosneft’s shares, this question will now be back on the table.
Bertrand Malmendier wants a lot of money from the German federal government. In his opinion, PCK is about much more than the Rosneft shares: “There are various claims bases for state liability, compensation and damages. According to the information we have, the value of the investments is over EUR 8 billion. This would include the investments in the MiRo refineries in Karlsruhe, in Bayernoil in Vohburg, Bavaria, and in infrastructure in Germany. In addition, he tells Business Insider, the compensation would involve cash holdings that would amount to over one billion euros. It was about a stock of goods in the refineries, about lost profits because the purchase of Russian crude oil was stopped without there being any legal basis and it was about the pre-emption rights of the Rosneft Group.
But who is the man who wants billions back from Habeck for Russia’s state-owned company in the event of a successful expropriation? And the one âFocusâ already described as a “German lawyer trusted by Putin’s clan”?