THE HAGUE, February 18. /TASS/. The Hague Court of Appeal overturned a previous decision of the district court and announced that Russia is obliged to pay more than $50 bln to former shareholders of Yukos. This is according to the documents published on the court’s website on Tuesday.

"In 2014, international arbitration ruled that Russia should pay billions of dollars in compensation for damage to former Yukos shareholders. Russia turned to the District court of the Hague and demanded to revoke this decision and the court made the decision in favor of the Russian party. However, the Hague Court of Appeal ruled that the previous verdict was erroneous. This means that the decision of the international arbitration will enter into force again,

The court added that the Russian Federation still has the opportunity to appeal against the decision to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.

"The arbitral award can be canceled only for a limited number of grounds," the decision states.

"One of these grounds is the lack of competence of the arbitration tribunal to make a decision on the case. In the decision issued on April 20, 2016, the district court overturned the decision, considering that that the arbitration tribunal did not have the relevant competence. However, the court of appeal did not agree with the decision of the district court," the Hague Court of Appeal explains.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague in 2014 ordered Russia to pay nearly $50 bln to companies linked to former Yukos shareholders - Yukos Universal Limited, Hulley Enterprises Limited and Veteran Petroleum Limited. The court decided that Russia’s steps against Yukos could be considered as expropriation of investments in violation of Article 45 of the Energy Charter, which Russia had signed but did not ratify. On April 20, 2016, The Hague District Court recognized this decision as invalid saying that Russia was not obliged to pay $50 bln in compensation.

In the summer of 2016, former Yukos shareholders appealed to the Hague Court of Appeal to reverse the decision of the district court and restore the arbitral award obliging Russia to pay $50 bln.