Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Olena Zerkal expects that Ukrainian companies, which filed lawsuits to the tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague against Russia over the seizure of their assets in Crimea, would receive awards of the tribunal within six months.

"We expect that within a half of the year all the companies that filed (lawsuits) in 2015-2016 would receive compensation, because the first stage, which concerned jurisdiction, namely Russia's responsibility for investments made in Crimea, achieved a positive result. All the plaintiffs who filed lawsuits against Russia received positive awards from the court of arbitration," she said on Channel 5 TV last Friday.

Zerkal said that Russia could delay the proceedings, for example, by appealing against judicial procedures.

"This territory [Crimea] is under their [Russia's] effective control and all the nationalization was carried out by their agencies or bodies that were under their control," the deputy minister said.

As reported, from January to June 2015, six similar suits were filed with the court of arbitration in The Hague from PrivatBank, its former owner Ihor Kolomoisky, Ukrnafta and a number of other related persons and companies.

The court of arbitration in The Hague on May 2, 2018 issued the first final award in one of the cases in favor of Ukraine.