MOSCOW, November 12 (RAPSI, Vladimir Yaduta) – Russian authorities move to set aside a ruling of the Hague's arbitration court which ordered Russia to pay $50 billion in damages to shareholders in now-defunct oil giant Yukos, director of Group Menatep Limited (GML) Tim Osborne told RAPSI on Wednesday.

"I can confirm that the Russian authorities have served papers commencing an action to have the ECT Arbitration Awards set aside. The case will be before the District Court in The Hague," Osborne said.

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 allege 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. They alleged that Russia had unlawfully seized its assets.