Former Yukos shareholders appeal $50 billion award reversal

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The former majority shareholders of Yukos, once Russia’s largest oil producer, have appealed a Dutch court’s decision to quash an international arbitration panel’s $50 billion compensation award.

In April, The Hague District Court overturned a July 2014 decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which awarded the shareholders $50 billion, saying that Moscow used tax claims to seize control of Yukos in 2003 and silence its CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an opponent of President Vladimir Putin who had begun to use his vast wealth to fund opposition parties challenging Putin’s power.

In a statement announcing the appeal Monday, the former shareholders say they “remain determined to hold the Russian Federation accountable for the expropriation of Yukos Oil Company.”