ECHR ruling on compensation to Yukos shareholders unfounded, Russia unlikely to comply - justice minister
MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov doubts that Russia will be able to comply with what it sees as a baseless decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) compelling it to pay compensation to the shareholders of the oil company Yukos.
"We have no certainty that Russia will be able to comply with this decision because, in our view, it runs counter to the case-law practice of the court itself and is not based on real, factological circumstances," the minister told reporters on Monday.
The Justice Ministry believe that in this particular instance the court ruling was not adequate, he said.
"Given that no enforcement procedure is envisioned for it by the court statute, we will, accordingly, take note and take it into account," he said.
"Next, there will be an ordinary monitoring procedure by the Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers, we will hear their arguments and reproaches, and take a decision based on our own understanding of our laws and of how our jurisdiction correlates with the ECHR competence," the minister said.
The CoE Committee of Ministers said earlier that Russia has shown no sign of willingness to comply with the ECHR ruling whereby Russia has until June 15 to prepare a plan of compensation payments to Yukos shareholders.
Asked whether the Justice Ministry will send any documentation over this matter to European counterparts, Konovalov said: "We will write to them that we have not drawn up the plan."
