Russia still has to pay a $ 50 billion fee from the court in The Hague to some shareholders of the former oil company Yukos.

Earlier, the victims were found to be right in a so-called arbitration judgment, but that judgment was later overturned by the court in The Hague. The court of appeal believes that the ruling of the court is not correct so that the arbitral decision is again in force.

Yukos was one of the largest oil and gas companies in Russia. The company was nationalised at the beginning of this century after the arrest and conviction of its owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who disappeared behind bars due to fraud and large-scale tax evasion.

After the nationalisation of the company, it was resold in parts to competitors. The former shareholders were left empty-handed.

In 2016, the court assumed that Russia was not required to pay compensation because the legal basis for this was lacking. But according to the court, it is indeed there. It also points to an international treaty signed by Russia, just as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2014 had made in its judgment.

Russia has already indicated that it will not stop there. The country can still appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision of the court. That means that an end to this legal battle that has been going on for many years is by no means insight.

Khodorkovsky, an opponent of President Vladimir Putin and once the richest man in Russia, was sentenced in 2005. He was imprisoned for years in a Siberian prison camp until he was released early in 2013. He currently resides in London.