Russia told to pay another $2bn to Yukos shareholders in largest ever human rights payout
Russia has been ordered to pay a further $2.6bn to Yukos shareholders by the European Court of Human Rights, the largest amount of damages ever awarded by the court.
The human rights court ruled today that Russia had failed to “strike a fair balance” in its treatment of Yukos and had forced the oil company to pay excessive fees.
Yukos, once worth $40bn, was broken up and nationalized a decade ago, with most of its assets handed to Rosneft, an energy giant run by an ally of President Vladimir Putin.
It’s another blow to Russia which was ordered to pay $50bn to former Yukos shareholders by the Hague earlier this week.
The ECHR also ordered Russia to pay almost half a million dollars in costs.
The ruling was welcomed by oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former owner of Yukos who was imprisoned for a decade on charges of tax evasion and theft until being pardoned by Putin last year.
However, Russia said it would appeal the decision which the country’s Justice Ministry called unfair and biased.