Russia to appeal Hague court rulings on Yukos shareholders suit - MinFin
MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - The Russian Federation intends to appeal against rulings by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on three inter-related actions filed by former majority shareholders in the Yukos oil company, the Russian Finance Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the rulings were "politically biased" and contained "serious flaws." Russia will appeal against the rulings in courts in the Netherlands, and expects a fair outcome, it said.
The ministry said the court did not have the jurisdiction to rule on the matters as Russia had not ratified the Energy Charter Treaty.
Also, Russia had not consented in any of the 50 or more international agreements on the protection of investment to have disputes with investors considered by a tertiary court prior to such an international agreement being ratified because this would be against Russian law.
The ministry said it was puzzled by the unprecedented damages awarded by court rulings based on an international agreement that Russia had not ratified and which directly contravened rulings by the European Court of Human Rights.
The ministry criticized the court's attempt to give a hypothetical valuation to Yukos ten years after the alleged expropriation took place and one-sided examination and use of evidence, and said the court should not have reviewed complex rulings by Russian courts in such a way as to turn it into an additional instance to appeal against rulings issued by Russian courts.