Russian vodka brands in the EU arrested for payments to ex-YUKOS shareholders

As Kommersant notes with reference to the structure of the former shareholders of YUKOS GML, in total, 18 trademarks were arrested in the Benelux territory, which unites Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, for the sake of paying shareholders of the Russian oil company.

Earlier, the court found the Russian authorities guilty of the "illegal, politically motivated expropriation of the Russian oil giant in 2003" and awarded former shareholders an astronomical $50 billion in compensation .

Russia tried to challenge the decision and delay its implementation, but these attempts did not bring much success.

As noted by GML CEO Tim Osborne, the process of enforcement of judgments has started. He did not rule out that the seizure of Russian state property would continue not only in the Netherlands, "but also in 168 other countries of the world in accordance with the New York Convention."

In the absence of compensatory payments from the Russian Federation, Yukos shareholders threaten to put the arrested trademarks up for auction.

Litigation in the Yukos case in the EU courts lasted for more than 10 years and ended with decisions on the payment of compensation to shareholders.

Earlier it was reported that the Constitutional Court of Russia (CC), at the request of the government made public clarifications to its nine-year-old ruling, which allow the authorities not to enforce the decision of the international arbitration in the case of the Yukos oil company.

Explanations of the Resolution of the Constitutional Court of March 27, 2012 appeared on the website of the court. They concern the application in Russia of international agreements that have been signed but not ratified by Russia.