MOSCOW, October 20 (RAPSI) – Former shareholders of defunct oil company Yukos, which was awarded $50 billion in damages against Russia, are going to request seizure of Russian assets in German, UK, Dutch, French, US courts, Der Spiegel reported on Monday, citing Tim Osborne, head of Group Menatep Limited (GML), former holding company of Yukos.

A tribunal for the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration announced in July that it had issued awards in three cases filed against Russia. The tribunal ordered that Russia pay Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) over $1.8 billion in damages. Hulley Enterprises Limited (Cyprus) was awarded about $40 billion, and Veteran Petroleum Limited (Cyprus) got over $8 billion.

Russian authorities claim that the arbitration panel was not entitled to consider the applications brought by former shareholders of Yukos. They vowed to appeal the decision passed by the panel. The Finance Ministry pointed out at a number of flaws in the review of the Yukos case, including “biased interpretation of the evidence” and “unacceptable reversal of complex decisions made by Russian courts.”

Notably, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights later in July awarded former Yukos shareholders 1.9 billion euros (about $2.6 billion) in damages. The company alleged that Russia had unlawfully seized its assets.