13:46, 7 February 2026

The court reduced compensation for passengers injured on the Nalchik cable car.

The aftermath of the cable car collapse in Nalchik on August 8, 2025. Photo: Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

The owner of a cable car in Nalchik convinced the appellate court to reduce the compensation payments to victims of the accident.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on August 8, 2025, 12 people were injured when a cable car collapsed in Nalchik, one of whom sustained serious injuries. All the victims were tourists, the head of the republic reported. By the morning of August 9, four people remained in the hospital; one patient had undergone surgery, and another is scheduled for surgery. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article on the provision of unsafe services resulting in serious bodily harm. In September, the Nalchik City Court upheld the prosecutor's office's claim and ordered the cable car owner to pay three victims more than 3 million rubles.

The cable car in Nalchik's city park was built 57 years before the accident, in 1968. It has been privately owned since February 2005. Tourists have repeatedly complained about the condition of the cable car, which costs 500 rubles per ticket: they wrote that the lift is "very old," "everything is rusty," and "everything is hanging on by a thread." The Nalchik City Court only after the accident recognized the danger of the cable car, owned by Zhemchuzhina Excursion Complex LLC, and in November 2025 suspended its operations for 90 days.

The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, based on complaints from Zhemchuzhina Excursion Complex LLC, reduced the amount of compensation for victims of the cable car collapse in Nalchik, the newspaper Gazeta Yuga reported today.

In particular, the man who suffered bruises as a result of the accident, including to the lumbar spine, and was forced to undergo treatment, was ordered by the Nalchik City Court to receive 800,000 rubles in compensation for moral damages. The court also imposed a fine of 400,000 rubles on the company for this case.

The panel of judges concluded that the compensation should be reduced.

"Zhemchuzhina Excursion Complex LLC" appealed this decision. The Supreme Court noted that the LLC assisted the victim in obtaining medical care, purchased him and his family train tickets home in a luxury compartment, a new smartphone to replace the one lost in the accident, and also "apologized." The panel of judges concluded that the compensation should be reduced to 300,000 rubles, and the fine to 150,000 rubles," the publication states.

A woman who suffered a closed spinal fracture after falling to the ground in a cable car accident was awarded one million rubles in compensation by a city court of first instance. The court also ordered the LLC to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles. The Supreme Court, following a complaint from Zhemchuzhina, halved these amounts, the publication writes.

Furthermore, the city court awarded a 15-year-old girl, who had to undergo treatment with a child psychologist after the accident, 250,000 rubles in compensation and a fine of 125,000 rubles. The Supreme Court of the Republic reduced these amounts to 100,000 and 50,000 rubles, respectively, the publication notes.

In October In 2025, the Nalchik City Court upheld the prosecutor's office's claim filed on behalf of one of the victims. According to the court's ruling, the cable car owner is obligated to pay the victim 2 million rubles, including 1.5 million rubles in compensation for moral damages and a fine of 500,000 rubles for refusing to voluntarily satisfy the consumer's demands. The prosecutor's office filed lawsuits on behalf of five victims, including two minors, but the cable car owner appealed the court's decisions, asking for a reduction in the compensation amounts, noted the author of the blog "Nalchik and Neighbors." "The Caucasus in Search of Justice" on the "Caucasian Knot."

"Apparently, they thought 1.5 million rubles for a broken spine and 2 million for internal injuries was too much. The Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic reduced the compensation awards by exactly half. "No comment," he wrote on February 6 in his post "The Nalchik Cable Car Case: Moral Damages Reduced by Half."

As a reminder, back in late 2024, Rostekhnadzor specialists concluded that the operation of the chairlift violated safety requirements and created a threat of harm to people. On December 5 of the same year, a representative of Zhemchuzhina LLC acknowledged the claims in court, but explained that most of the violations had been corrected.

Then, eight months before the accident, the court fined the company 100,000 rubles, and considered the suspension of the cable car's operations an extreme measure, since "there was no objective data indicating that the activity The chairlift poses a real threat to the life and health of citizens and the occurrence of an emergency situation, was not presented to the court."

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/420597