The Hague court ordered Russia to pay $ 5 billion in compensation to the former structure of the Yukos group

International arbitration under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled on the merits of the dispute between Yukos Capital Sarl and the Russian Federation, awarding the former structure of the Yukos group in compensation in the amount of $ 5 billion, including interest and legal costs. On the decision in favor of Yukos Capital informs the specialized edition of the Global Arbitration Review and RBC with reference to the Dutch fund Yukos, which manages legal proceedings in order to win and distribute compensation for the liquidation of Yukos.

There was no confirmation of this information from the Russian side. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, as a rule, does not announce the outcome of the arbitral proceedings administered by it, notes RBC.

According to the Dutch foundation, the arbitration court issued its final decision on Friday, July 23, “having determined that Russia had illegally expropriated the loans that Yukos Capital issued to its former parent company, and did not allow justice in this case in Russian courts.” The basis for considering the dispute was the Energy Charter Treaty, which Russia signed in 1994, applied temporarily, but did not ratify.

Yukos Capital initiated arbitration proceedings against Russia in 2013 and initially sought compensation from the state for $ 13 billion. This is one of the so-called second wave cases, different from the main international Yukos case, in which the former majority shareholders of the liquidated company are seeking compensation for $ 60 billion through the Dutch courts.

Yukos Capital claimed to have issued loans to Yukos, which were not returned due to the bankruptcy and liquidation of the company by decisions of the Russian authorities. For example, in 2004, Yuganskneftegaz (the main production company of YUKOS) borrowed 11.2 billion rubles from Yukos Capital. At the same time, another Yukos subsidiary, Samaraneftegaz, borrowed 2.4 billion rubles from Yukos Capital. In 2007, Russian courts declared these transactions null and void. The Russian side stated that the funds issued essentially belonged to the Yukos company itself, were veiled in the form of fictitious loans and were used in illegal schemes to withdraw funds and tax evasion.

The arbitration was conducted according to the international rules of UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, UNCITRAL), and the place of proceedings was Switzerland, whose national court is competent to cancel the arbitral award if Russia appeals against it. In June 2021, the State Duma adopted a law according to which the Prosecutor General’s Office received the right to represent Russia in foreign and international courts (previously the Ministry of Justice was engaged in this). President Vladimir Putin signed the document on July 1.

Yukos Capital Sarl won its first victory back in 2009-2010. Then the Amsterdam Court of Appeal on the claim of Yukos Capital Sarl ruled to execute the decision of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation to recover from the state-owned Rosneft about 13 billion rubles for the debts of Yuganskneftegaz, the main oil production asset of YUKOS, which was taken over by Rosneft. at a price lower than the market through the company “Baikal Finance Group”, registered at the address of the vodka in Tver. The Russian state-owned company tried to challenge this decision, writes “New Newspaper”. However, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands refused to consider the complaint and ordered to pay money to Yukos Capital.