THE HAGUE, February 9. /TASS/. The ruling by the District Court of The Hague on the case of the now defunct Yukos oil company will be announced April 20, the presiding judge said Tuesday.

In turn, the lawyer for the Russian side, Albert Jan van den Berg, told a TASS correspondent that in his view "the hearings took place in a very good way."

"We hope the judges listened to the arguments we submitted too," he said.

The key argument of the Russian side was that the Energy Charter, on the basis of which the international arbitration court ruled to pay over $50 billion to former Yukos shareholders, does not embrace Russia, as the country signed but has not ratified the document.

"Besides, the case touches upon taxation, but resolution of such issues is not envisioned by the Energy Charter," van den Berg underscored.

"The case refers to a Russian company with a Russian owner against the Russian Federation," the lawyer said. "That is, it’s an internal Russian case, and it’s unclear what they are doing in The Hague at all."

He expressed hope that by April 20 the judges will pass the ruling but did not rule out delays for a few weeks.

The Hague Arbitration Tribunal in July 2014 passed rulings that Russia should pay overall more than $50 billion to companies affiliated with former Yukos shareholders. The court ruled that Russia’s actions regarding Yukos may be interpreted as expropriation of investments violating the 45th article of the Energy Charter.

It was reported in February 2015 that Russia had appealed to the District Court of The Hague against the arbitration rulings.

Yukos oil giant was accused of tax crimes and declared bankrupt by a Russian court ruling in 2006 while its assets were sold at auctions during the liquidation procedure.