Russia to appeal $50bn Yukos shareholder payout

Russia will appeal a court decision ordering it to pay $50bn (£29.5bn) in damages, the biggest compensation package ordered to date.

Russia was told to pay the money to former shareholders in the now defunct oil producer Yukos.

The Hague court said Russian officials had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt Yukos, and jail its boss.

Ruble, Moscow Stocks Tumble After Yukos Ruling - July 28 2014 - At 1450 GMT, the rouble, which had been down 0.7 percent against the dollar for most of the session, extended its losses to trade 1.2 percent lower at 35.55, its weakest since the first days of May. The dollar-denominated RTS index closed down 3.1 percent at 1,207 points, after trading about 2.5-2.7 percent down on the day earlier in the session.

"If the Russian government tries to avoid paying these charges, then there will be freezing of Russian assets all over the world," said Andrei Illarionov, former economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin and now his critic.

Shares of Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, closed 3.1 percent lower. "Usually, when traders and investors want to bet on an improvement of the situation in Russia, then they buy Sberbank (shares)," said in a note Airat Khalikov, analyst at Veles Capital in Moscow. "Unfortunately, now we see the opposite. The decline in Sberbank stocks may be an indicator of a fundamental reassessment of the negative prospects of the Russian economy."

“If the Russian government tries to avoid paying these charges, then there will be freezing of Russian assets all over the world,”

I don’t think Putin cares much about this.

There is a lot more Euro money in Russia, than Russian money in Europe.

Start seizing assets, and Putin declares that Gas has to be paid for in Gold and Rubles, something they are already said to be moving toward. That’ll blow the lid off of the Euro economy, and everybody knows it.

Winter is coming to Europe soon, and war, hot or economic, isn’t likely to be far behind.

U.S. and Europe Set to Toughen Russia Sanctions

American officials were heartened by the agreement, saying it would frustrate efforts by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to drive a wedge between the United States and its allies. The key to the agreement, they said, was Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who dropped her past reluctance and pressed for more assertive moves, which forced the French to go along, and that then forced the Italians to give in.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/world/europe/us-and-europe-agree-to-escalate-sanctions-on-russia.html

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.