Lessons of Publicity: Russia Accuses Yukos Structure of Disclosing Court Decision

According to the decision of the International Arbitration, Russia has to pay this kind of compensation to the structure of YUKOS. The fact that Russia was obliged to pay astronomical compensation was publicly announced by the Dutch foundation.

"This, according to the Russian side, is a 'gross violation' of the obligation of Yukos Capital to keep the court decision private and confidential", - the Dozhd TV channel reported.

As noted by RBC with reference to the non-profit organization International Center for Legal Defense (ICLP), which represents the interests of Russia in foreign litigation in the Yukos case, the confidentiality of the content of the court decision, according to ICLP, was established by procedural documents in the case.

Now the defendant intends to apply for interim measures and demand to recover damages due to the disclosure of the court decision. The ICPC explains these losses by the fact that now Russia "is forced to provide explanations on the content of the decision, since the press release of the Yukos Foundation gives conclusions of the decision taken out of context and distorts the facts."

At the end of July, the Yukos Foundation announced that on July 23, the International Arbitration under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ordered Russia to pay compensation in the amount of $ 5 billion to Yukos Capital Sarl. The reason for the court was the "illegal expropriation of loans" issued by the structure of Yukos Capital to YUKOS. The lawsuit was declared in the amount of $ 13 billion, but the court satisfied the claims in part - for $ 5 billion.

The defendants insisted that the loans were fictitious, they were allegedly used in illegal schemes to withdraw funds and tax evasion.

After the decision of the court, the Prosecutor General 's Office had to make excuses to the citizens of the Russian Federation. The Office stated that "the arbitration refused the applicant to satisfy most of the claims against Russia." According to the supervisory authority, the Russian side disputed several points during the proceedings. The first is the competence of the panel of arbitrators to resolve disputes on the basis of the Energy Charter Treaty. Russia has not yet ratified this treaty. The second point is the legitimacy of the claim itself.

At the same time, it became known that an active persecution of journalists began in Russia and media resources associated with the former co-owner of YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Earlier it was reported that the Constitutional Court of Russia (CC), at the request of the government, published clarifications to its decision eight years ago, which allow the authorities not to comply with the decision of international arbitration in the case of the Yukos oil company.

Explanations of the Constitutional Court Resolution of March 27, 2012 appeared on the court's website. They relate to the application in Russia of international agreements that were signed but not ratified by Russia.

As noted by the Russian service of the BBC , in fact, the position of the Constitutional Court means permission not to pay $ 57 billion to the former shareholders of Yukos by the decision of the Hague court.

“The Russian Constitutional Court has sanctioned Russia's failure to comply with the decision of the international arbitration tribunal in The Hague on payment of $ 57 billion to the former shareholders of Yukos. According to experts, this will worsen the international legal reputation of Russia and its position in other treaties. But foreign courts will still collect debts from Russia on YUKOS claims”, - the newspaper reports.

In 2012, the Constitutional Court allowed the Russian authorities to temporarily apply international agreements that had not been ratified or entered into force. This decision applied to the Energy Charter Treaty, which was not ratified by the Russian side, but was temporarily used since 1994. The shareholders of Yukos and the international arbitration court relied on him, which collected $ 50 billion from Russia in the claims of former shareholders (taking into account the accrued interest, the amount exceeded $ 57 billion).

The Constitutional Court stated that its 2012 ruling should not be interpreted as a document that allows for the referral of disputes to an international court. According to the Constitutional Court, the government can sign international treaties on behalf of Russia, but disputes over them should be considered in Russian courts. Otherwise, it will be seen as a violation of the country's sovereignty.

The Yukos affair began in 2003, when the Russian authorities accused the management of the oil company of tax evasion. Two years later, the head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and the president of the Menatep bank associated with him, Platon Lebedev, were found guilty under six articles of the Criminal Code and sentenced to nine years in prison. In 2013 and 2014, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were released.

While Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were imprisoned, Yukos went bankrupt and liquidated. The former YUKOS shareholders who disagreed with this went to court with a demand to pay them compensation.

In 2014, the Arbitration Tribunal in The Hague ordered Russia to pay shareholders an astronomical amount of $ 50 billion, but Moscow filed an appeal and the payment process was frozen. In February 2020, the Hague Court of Appeal overturned the district court's decision and again ordered Russia to pay the Yukos shareholders.

The Hague arbitration tribunal in its dispute with YUKOS considered that Russia's refusal from the signed international agreements has no retroactive effect. Moscow tried to challenge this decision, but to no avail. The Russian authorities then petitioned for the suspension of the tribunal's decision, but again in vain. After that, the Constitutional Court explained that it was not obligatory to fulfill the international treaty to the Energy Charter, on which the decision on payments made by the court was based.