Russia Wins $50 Billion Ruling in Decade-Old Fight With Yukos

April 20, 2016 — 3:57 AM EDT
Updated on April 20, 2016 — 7:44 AM EDT

Russia succeeded in its battle to overturn a $50 billion arbitration ruling after a Dutch court ruled that the panel of judges who issued the record-setting award to the former owners of Yukos Oil Co. had no right to review the dispute.

The ruling by a court in the Hague Wednesday was a sweeping victory for the country in its more than decade-old fight with the owners of what was once Russia’s biggest oil company. The court said that the arbitration panel misinterpreted a treaty that Russia signed, but never ratified, according to a copy of the judgment.

The decision may free up accounts and property belonging to state companies targeted by GML Ltd., a holding company belonging to four former Yukos owners, in attempts to collect the award. Russia’s legal team will file a motion to overturn asset seizures in Belgium and France, said Andrey Kondakov, the general director of the International Center for Legal Protection, which is coordinating Russia’s defense.

“This will make Russian companies operating in foreign countries feel more comfortable,” Evgeny Minchenko, head of the International Institute for Political Expertise in Moscow, said by phone. “It also improves Russia’s image abroad as a whole.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-20/dutch-court-overturns-50-billion-yukos-ruling-on-jurisdiction