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Former Yukos shareholders suspend proceedings against Russia filed to London court

The International Center for Legal Defense which represents Russia’s interests in court agreed with the decision of former Yukos shareholders

LONDON, July 28. /TASS /. Former shareholders of the Yukos company have suspended the action proceedings in the lawsuit against Russia that was filed to the Supreme Court in London, press secretary of the Maitland consulting agency William Clatterbuck told TASS.

According to him, the treatment of this case in the UK has been suspended. Three weeks hearings that were to be held in London in November are no longer on the agenda, Clatterbuck said.

He said that the decision has been made on the base of the verdict of the District Court of The Hague. In compliance with that decision Russia was not obliged to pay $50 bln as a compensation and this removes legal grounds for the treatment of the case, Clatterbuck said.

He added that the International Center for Legal Defense which represents Russia’s interests in court agreed with the decision of former Yukos shareholders.

In 2014, the international arbitration, established under the mediation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, ordered Russia to pay about $ 50 billion to companies Yukos Universal Limited, Hulley Enterprises Limited and Veteran Petroleum Limited, which were shareholders of the bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos. The court concluded that the actions of the Russian Federation in relation to Yukos can be seen as the expropriation of investments that violates the 45th article of the Energy Charter, which Russia signed but not ratified.

Russia appealed to the District Court of The Hague. On April 20 of 2016, this court declared decision of the international arbitration null and void and freed Russia from obligations to pay $50 bln.

On July 27, the Supreme Court of Berlin said that the lawsuit filed by one of the former shareholders of the Yukos oil company to a German court against Russia had been revoked and the hearing scheduled on September 29 had been canceled.

Several days earlier former Yukos shareholders gave up their claim for a land plot in Paris where the construction of the Russian cultural and spiritual center is being completed.