Russia has three months to file appeal in Yukos case — Dutch Supreme Court

THE HAGUE, February 26. /TASS/. Russia can file a cassation appeal in the Yukos case to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands within three months, press secretary of the Court Thea Tjeerdema told TASS.

"The [Amsterdam] Court of Appeal ruled last week. At this moment no cassation appeal has (yet) been filed with the Supreme Court," the spokesperson said.

"In general, an appeal of cassation is filed at a later time within the period for cassation appeal (which is three months indeed), because the grounds for cassation must have been worked out when the appeal is filed," the press secretary added.

The international arbitration, brokered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, made its ruling a decade after the case started in 2014. Russia must pay more than $50 bln to companies connected with former Yukos shareholders, including Yukos Universal, Hulley Enterprises and Veteran Petroleum.

The verdict was appealed in the Dutch court. In November 2021, the Dutch Supreme Court satisfied Russia’s cassation appeal on one item saying that former Yukos shareholders committed fraud during the arbitration, remitting the matter to the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. Claims on other items, including those concerning interpretation of provisions of the contract to the Energy Charter, were rejected, while decisions on them recognized as final. In its ruling the Amsterdam Court of Appeal came to the conclusion that arbitration decisions should not be canceled because of the complaint regarding fraud. This decision can still be disputed with the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.

Yukos case

Yukos, once Russia’s largest oil firm, was accused of tax crimes and declared bankrupt by a Russian court ruling in 2006 while its assets were sold at auction during the liquidation procedure.

In 2007, former Yukos shareholders filed a lawsuit with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague claiming that the Russian government had expropriated Yukos’ assets and demanding compensation for losses under Article 45 of Europe’s Energy Charter Treaty.