Russia challenges $50-billion award to former Yukos shareholders in the Dutch Supreme Court

The Russian government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands against a ruling by the Hague Court of Appeal ordering Moscow to pay $50 billion to the former shareholders of the oil company Yukos, according to an announcement from Russia’s Justice Ministry on Friday.

In 2014, The Hague Arbitration Court ruled in the shareholders’ favor, finding that the Russian government illegally nationalized Yukos. The Dutch Supreme Court is the final authority that can block the compensation ruling, which has already come before several other international courts. 

In 2016, following an earlier appeal by the Russian government, the Hague District Court overturned the arbitration court’s award to the former Yukos shareholders, finding that arbitrators did not have jurisdiction to consider the Yukos case. In February 2020, however, the appellate court reinstated the award. Russia’s Justice Ministry announced immediately that it would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.