PARIS – The International Chamber of Commerce is holding an arbitration hearing over Russian magnate Sergei Pugachev's claims for $12 billion from Russia, part of a long-running battle with President Vladimir Putin's government.
Russia accuses Pugachev of embezzlement, while Pugachev alleges the Russian state unlawfully took over his shipyards and other assets. Pugachev had a big business empire in the 1990s.
Pugachev's representatives say at Monday's hearing in Paris, he's seeking to freeze Russian government assets abroad or other punitive measures.
The Russian state Deposit Insurance Agency says Pugachev ran his bank into the ground in a scam to get money from the government. Authorities have frozen Pugachev's assets in Britain and Switzerland in that case and he was sentenced in Britain for contempt of court. Russian prosecutors want Pugachev extradited from France.
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