On February 6, Russian state-owned lender Sberbank expressed its disagreement with a U.S. court ruling that denied the bank sovereign immunity in a case filed by the family of a victim of the 2014 MH17 airline disaster. Sberbank stated its intention to persist in contesting the case.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan allowed the family of American Quinn Schansman, who perished in the MH17 tragedy, to sue Russia's largest bank for allegedly facilitating money transfers to a group implicated in the plane's downing.
Regarding the ruling, Sberbank stated, "We have studied the judgement in our appeal, which took the U.S. Court of Appeals more than 14 months to issue. Sberbank does not agree with it and will continue to defend its interests in this case."
The court's unanimous 3-0 decision denied Sberbank sovereign immunity, citing allegations that the bank had utilized the U.S. banking system to channel funds to the Russia-backed separatist group Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
Schansman, who was 18 at the time, was traveling with his family on the flight bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam on July 17, 2014. The aircraft was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over DPR-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, resulting in the loss of all 298 individuals on board.
While Russia has refuted involvement in the incident, Ukraine had previously classified the DPR as a terrorist organization, and the United States had imposed sanctions on the group.