Russia is losing the Yukos case. The Kremlin will have to pay 50 billion. dollars in compensation

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands rejected Russia's appeal regarding compensation for former Yukos shareholders. Thus, the record-breaking arbitration award in The Hague was upheld, ordering Moscow to pay USD 50 billion for the illegal takeover of the oil company after its liquidation in 2006.

The Supreme Court in the Netherlands dismissed the appeal of the Russian Federation on Friday, ending a dispute over compensation for former shareholders of the liquidated Yukos concern that had been going on for over a decade. This means that Russia must pay USD 50 billion – the highest compensation in the history of international arbitration.

Yukos was once Russia's largest oil company, run by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was arrested in 2003 after a conflict with the Kremlin and spent ten years in prison. The Russian authorities imposed a multi-billion tax on the company, leading to its bankruptcy.

In 2014, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague awarded shareholders $50 billion in compensation. After a series of appeals and reconsiderations, lower courts in the Netherlands upheld the ruling, and Friday's Supreme Court decision finally closes the case.

A representative of the GML group representing shareholders, Tim Osborne, called the ruling “a historic victory” and a confirmation of the principle that “no country, not even one like Russia, is above the law.”

From The Hague Patryk Kulpok (PAP)

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