Swiss court rejects Russia’s appeal in Yukos case

Khodorkovsky (archive picture) was released from prison in 2013 and now lives in exile. Keystone / Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr

Russia must pay $2.6 billion (CHF2.6 billion) to Yukos Capital after Switzerland's highest court rejected an appeal by Moscow.

Russia had challenged whether a Geneva arbitration court was competent to hear the case brought by the financial arm of Yukos, an independent Russian oil firm that was dismantled and absorbed by the state-held Rosneft.

The court rejected that argument, which was predicated on Russia’s parliament having ultimately rejected the energy charter treaty that governs cross-border energy trading and investments.

The verdict was handed down by the Federal Court in August but could only be published on Monday.

The case was but one part of a vast legal saga concerning the dismantlement of Yukos. 

Kremlin critic

The company broke up in the early 2000s after the arrest of its former owner, the Kremlin critic and ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Rosneft came away with most of its assets following a murky auction process.

Khodorkovsky had become a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, spent a decade in jail before he was pardoned in 2013 and allowed to go into exile. He lives in Britain.

A case brought by Yukos investors has been bouncing around the Dutch courts, with the supreme court last year scrapping an order for Russia to pay $50 billion and sending it back to lower courts.