Italian engineering group MAIRE has accused Swiss fertilizer MNC EuroChem of contempt of UK court rulings and pledged to pursue €700 million damages.

The company confirmed it has already secured favorable rulings from UK courts and is pressing ahead with arbitration proceedings seeking damages exceeding €700 million, targeting what it describes as EuroChem’s illegal actions.

On 21 November 2025, Justice Butcher issued a judgment against EuroChem NW2, ordering compliance with the arbitral tribunal’s peremptory orders under penal notice. MAIRE reports that “as of [today], EuroChem is in breach of the Butcher Order and thus acting in contempt of the English court.”

MAIRE said it “reserves the right to adjourn and/or file for all the damages arising from the above-mentioned unlawful actions” and will vigorously challenge EuroChem NW2, EuroChem Group AG (EuroChem AG), and “any other person doing anything to infringe the rights of MAIRE and its affiliates violating multiple orders and directions issued by an international arbitral tribunal and the English court.”

The EuroChem group is controlled by Andrei Melnichenko, a sanctioned individual under EU Regulation 269/2014, who “also de facto controls EuroChem NW2, as found by the English Court and by several other national competent authorities in the EU.”

Tecnimont, MAIRE’s partner in the K2 contracts, is seeking compensation exceeding €700 million after EuroChem NW2 unlawfully terminated the agreements in August 2022. Tecnimont had lawfully suspended the contracts earlier that year due to sanctions targeting Russia and its economy.

In September 2022, EuroChem NW2 brought proceedings in the English High Court against ING Bank and Société Générale over bonds issued to guarantee Tecnimont’s obligations.

Tecnimont intervened, and on 31 July 2025, Justice Bright ruled in the “Bright Judgment” that "Melnichenko is the owner of EuroChem NW2 and of EuroChem AG, and of their assets including the Bonds."

“The Bonds are frozen under Article 2(1)” of EU Regulation 269/2014; The Banks therefore are prohibited from honouring the Bonds and paying under them.”

Despite the ruling, EuroChem NW2 and EuroChem AG attempted to shield themselves under Russian courts, violating the arbitration agreement in the K2 contracts. In response, Tecnimont obtained anti-suit injunctions from the international arbitral tribunal, ordering EuroChem NW2 to abandon the Russian proceedings and EuroChem AG to ensure compliance.

However, MAIRE reports that “both EuroChem NW2 and EuroChem AG have repeatedly breached these orders, such that Tecnimont was forced to seize the English court for the enforcement of the same orders.”

Under Russian law, MAIRE notes that any Russian judgment “will not… be enforceable outside of Russia because it was rendered in breach of the 1958 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, of which more than 170 countries are signatories, including the CIS and BRICS countries.”