MOSCOW, August 4 (RAPSI) - Ukraine’s state bank Oschadbank has filed five lawsuits with the Crimean Commercial Court to collect over 1.2 billion rubles ($19 mln) from Simferopol energy providers, according to court records.

The co-defendants in the disputes are Crimea Solar 1, Crimea Solar 2, Crimea Solar 3, Crimea Solar 4 and Crimea Solar 5, all registered in Crimea and owned by Austrian Black Sea Renewable Energies GmbH.

The preliminary hearings will take place on September 21-22.

Business media report that earlier this year, the Kiev Regional Economic Court ruled that Crimea Solar 1 and Crimea Solar 3, which are currently involved in the construction of solar power stations in the village of Rodnikovoye, Simferopol district, pay off around $7 million in loans from Oschadbank.

The court found that in 2011, Crimea Solar 1 and Crimea Solar 3 closed two loan agreements with Oschadbank, both for ten years until 2021. In 2014, the companies stopped making the payments. Under the agreement, the bank can request a pre-term payoff of the loan if the debtor fails to service the loan. Thus, Oschadbank has filed a suit against the Crimean companies to force them to pay off the loan, interest and commission through December 30, 2014.

Also, last month Oschadbank filed a lawsuit against Russia for about 15 billion hryvnia ($700 mln) in damages related to Crimea’s reunification with Russia.