MOSCOW: Russia will not comply with a European court ruling ordering it to pay Georgia almost $300 million for violations it has allegedly committed since their 2008 war, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 after Tbilisi launched a surprise offensive against pro-Moscow separatist forces that it said were shelling Georgian villages.
Since then, it has occupied areas of northern and western Georgia comprising almost one-fifth of the country and installed puppet governments that have prevented the return of ethnic Georgian citizens, according to Tbilisi.
It has also blocked the teaching of Georgian in schools, Georgia says.
On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld Georgia’s complaints, ordering Moscow to pay just over 253 million euros ($292 million) in compensation.
“We will not comply with the ruling,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Moscow quit the Council of Europe, of which the ECHR is part, following its 2022 offensive on Ukraine but the court says it remains liable for violations committed before then.
Moscow has repeatedly ignored ECHR rulings, including while it was still a member of the Council of Europe.
Georgia formally cut diplomatic relations with Russia in the wake of their 2008 war, but has taken informal steps to improve ties in recent years — a process that Georgia’s opposition has heavily criticized.
When asked on Wednesday whether the non-payment of the fine would affect the diplomatic thaw, Peskov said it was a “separate matter.”
Moscow recognizes the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent, while most of the world recognizes them as Georgian territory.
Russia rejects compensation to Georgia over 2008 war
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Russia rejects compensation to Georgia over 2008 war
- ECHR upheld Georgia’s complaints, ordering Moscow to pay just over $292m in compensation
- “We will not comply with the ruling,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
Climate activist group files second lawsuit against Sweden
- Sweden’s Supreme Court in February 2025 ruled that the complaint filed against the state was inadmissible
- “We still have a chance to get out of the planetary crises and build a safe and fair world,” Edling said
STOCKHOLM: A group of climate activists said Friday they were filing another lawsuit against the Swedish state for alleged climate inaction, after the Supreme Court threw out their case last year.
The group behind the lawsuit, Aurora, first tried to sue the Swedish state in late 2022.
Sweden’s Supreme Court in February 2025 ruled that the complaint filed against the state — brought by an individual, with 300 other people joining it as a class action lawsuit — was inadmissible.
The court at the time noted the “very high requirements for individuals to have the right to bring such a claim” against a state.
“We still have a chance to get out of the planetary crises and build a safe and fair world. But this requires that rich countries that emit as much as Sweden stop breaking the law,” Aurora spokesperson Ida Edling said in a statement Friday.
The group, which said the lawsuit had been filed with the Stockholm District Court Friday, said it believes the Swedish state is obligated “to reduce Sweden’s emissions as much and as quickly as necessary in order for the country to be in line with its fair share.”
“This means that emissions from several sectors must reach zero before 2030,” the group said, while noting this was 15 years before Sweden’s currently set targets.
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency as well as the OECD warned last year that Sweden was at risk of not reaching its own goal of net zero emissions by 2045.
While the first lawsuit was unsuccessful, the group noted that international courts had made several landmark decisions since the first suit was filed, spotlighting two in particular.
In an April 2024 decision, Europe’s top rights court, the European Court of Human Rights, ruled that Switzerland was not doing enough to tackle climate change, the first country ever to be condemned by an international tribunal for not taking sufficient action to curb global warming.
In 2025, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that countries violating their climate obligations were committing an “unlawful” act.
