Russia says contests court ruling to pay $57 bln in Yukos case

MOSCOW, May 15 (PRIME) -- Russia has appealed against a decision of the Hague Court of Appeal that ordered the country to pay U.S. $57 billion to the former majority shareholders of defunct oil company Yukos, the Justice Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"The Russian Federation has sent a cassation claim to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, in which it demands abolishment of the decision of the Hague Court of Appeal in a case of majority shareholders of defunct oil company Yukos, in which it ruled Russia to pay $57 billion as compensation for an alleged damage," the ministry said.

In 2003, the Russian government accused the management of the then top oil company Yukos of economic crimes. Several company managers were sentenced to prison for fraud and tax evasion. Its core owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was charged with several sequential sentences and spent 10 years in prison before he was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin. The company later declared bankruptcy, and its assets were sold to state-owned oil major Rosneft.

In July 2014, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that the Russian government must pay a $50 billion compensation to GML, which unites former Yukos owners. Russia refused, and the shareholders sent claims to several countries, asking them to help with fulfillment of the court order. Russian asset seizures began in France and Belgium, and the Russian government contested them.

The District Court of the Hague cancelled the lower court decision on compensation in April 2016 on the grounds that the case is beyond jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, but the Hague Court of Appeal overturned the decision in February 2020.

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