On February 6, Russian Finance Ministry said the country had filed three separate appeals in the District Court of The Hague against rulings by an international arbitration court awarding former Yukos shareholders with $50 billion.
"GML respects Russia's rights to apply to the District Court in The Hague to have the Awards set aside. However, we do not believe there is any merit in any of Russia's arguments and they are simply continuing to try to delay the inevitable," Tim Osborne said. "We expect this process, including appeals to take a number of years but ultimately the Awards will be confirmed in our favour."
Yukos, a defunct oil company previously controlled by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was declared bankrupt by a Moscow court of arbitration back in 2006. Khodorkovsky spent a decade in prison for fraud and tax evasion until he was pardoned in December 2013.
Yukos managers claimed the Russian government had illegally forced the energy company out of business, which allowed Rosneft oil giant to snap up its assets and become the country's largest oil producer. Over the past few years, Yukos managers and investors have won several cases against Russia and the companies that acquired the assets.
