Oligarchy

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
www.rt.com/news/367940-khodorkovsky-suspect-garda-investigation/

Irish court names Khodorkovsky potential suspect in €100mn fraud.

RT.com
23 Nov, 2016 14:21

Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a potential suspect in an ongoing money-laundering investigation over €100 million, frozen in Irish-domiciled funds for over five years, the Irish Times reports citing the Dublin District Court.

The investigation is being conducted by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation (GBFI), a specialized division of Ireland's national police force, the Garda Síochána, which investigates “fraud-related crime involving complex issues of criminal law or procedure.”

The district court is being asked to unfreeze over €100 million (US$106 million) under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, the newspaper reports.

The Irish-domiciled funds, which are in trusts, have been frozen since March 2011. The Irish state has renewed its freezing of the assets every 28 days for the past five-and-a-half years.

The case was reopened by Khodorkovsky himself, who claims that he has already answered all of the Garda’s questions concerning the source of money.

Khodorkovsy said he “perfectly understands” the action the Irish authorities took back in 2011 and doesn’t object to the freeze.

“At that time, I was still in prison and, naturally, I wasn’t able to provide the necessary explanations to the authorities. I think generally that fighting money laundering is the right thing to do and now we are advocating for close attention to be paid to money coming out of Russia,” he said, according to the Irish Times.

The Russian ex-oil magnate now believes it’s time his assets were unfrozen, or at least he expects the Irish court to explain what he has done wrong.

Speaking in court on Wednesday, Judge Timothy Lucey criticized the length of time the assets have been frozen, saying the procedure should be speedy. "[It’s] just as well it wasn't a two-year old race horse – it would be dog meat by now," he quipped.

Michael McDowell senior counsel for the state, said Khodorkovsky was the owner of the funds and that a court “in a country with which Ireland does business” had found him guilty of fraud and tax evasion. The money could have gone from Yukos, which was once worth $40 billion, into a “labyrinthine series” of trusts linked to particular individuals, he said, according to the Irish Times.

Remy Farrell, senior counsel for Khodorkovsky, told the court that "An Garda Siochana [Ireland’s police force] have acted as the instrument of a universally-discredited Russian regime."

Khodorkovsky’s counsel argued that Irish police were using a conviction that is internationally considered politically motivated for freezing the funds. He said there is no basis for criminal activity in relation to the money and the only evidence of criminal conduct is the Russian conviction.

“As time goes on it’s become increasingly difficult to justify the interference of the [Irish] state ... you have overwhelming evidence before you that the conviction [in Russia] was secured on the basis of Khodorkovsky’s political beliefs,” Farrell said.

Responding to Farrell’s comments, the Irish state’s legal counsel said: “The Gardai do not have to come to a concluded view that these [funds] are the proceeds of crime, all they have to do is come to the view that they have reasonable grounds to suspect it is.”

McDowell also read parts of a sworn affidavit by a garda involved in the case who said there are reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering, and that an investigation was ongoing into Khodorkovsky, his business partner Platon Lebedev and the corporate entities associated with them.

The burden of proof in the case lies with the Irish state which must provide evidence of Khodorkovsky’s financial wrongdoing. Any assertions can then be refuted by the defendant in court.

“Ireland is trying to crack down on money laundering in general – just earlier this month Ulster Bank was fined €3.3 million for failing to enforce its directives to take money-laundering training,” Irish financial journalist Nick Webb told RT.com.

Webb added that the likely reason the case has taken so long in the Irish courts is because under-resourced financial investigators have been focused on domestic banking cases, and the Russian case was likely “at the back of the pile”.

Damien Barnaville, partner at Irish financial services firm LK Shields, said Ireland follows anti-laundering directives from the EU and agreed that Ireland (as well as the US and UK) has recently “ramped up” their fines for, and prosecutions of, money-laundering.

Once Russia’s richest person, Yukos founder Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003. Following a lengthy trial, in 2005 he was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to nine years in prison. Khodorkovsky was declared bankrupt by a Moscow court in 2006; Yukos was then nationalized with most of its assets eventually handed to oil giant Rosneft.

In 2009, Khodorkovsky was charged with embezzlement and money laundering. The second trial ended in late 2010 with a sentence of 14 years in prison, minus the term that he had already served. After another legal battle, the final ruling cut the sentence to 11 years.

In December 2013, Khodorkovsky was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin and left Russia for Germany to visit his elderly mother. Later he moved to Switzerland, which is now his main place of residence.

Earlier this year, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office sent documents to Interpol that could see Khodorkovsky put on an international wanted list over charges of complicity in the 1998 murder of a Siberian city mayor.

The Russian branch of Interpol declared Khodorkovsky ‘wanted’ in February after local law enforcement reopened the case into the killing of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of Neftyugansk, who came into conflict with Yukos stakeholders and managers and was killed on June 26, 1998, Khodorkovsky’s 35th birthday.

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Vid,
www.rt.com/news/368096-mikhail-khodorkovsky-funds-ireland/

Irish court to rule next month on release of $105mn frozen Khodorkovsky funds.

RT.com
24 Nov, 2016 19:32

An Irish court will rule next month on an application from former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky to release €100 million ($105mn) of his funds that were frozen by the Irish courts after a request by Irish fraud investigators in 2011.

The Irish state has renewed its freezing of the assets every 28 days for the past five-and-a-half years.

Hearings began Monday at a sitting of the Dublin District Court before Judge Timothy Lucey. Submissions were made from Senior Counsel for Khodorkovsky, Remy Farrell, and Senior Counsel for the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, Michael McDowell.

Addressing the court on Thursday, McDowell provided details from a police officer involved in an ongoing investigation into Khodorkovsky, his business partner Platon Lebedev and the corporate entities associated with them.

McDowell argued that under the relevant legislation, the onus is on Khodorkovsky to show that either there is no police investigation taking place or no reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering in relation to the funds in order to lift the freeze.

He told the court that the legislation “does not provide a mechanism whereby this court can say this has gone on long enough,” to which the judge responded: “The court is utterly confined to two very narrow options, apparently.”

At one point the judge told McDowell that the situation was “a little bit double-edged” in that a person is required to provide information in order to unfreeze their funds, but that this information is then used to see if it amounts to a crime. “You can see why people might be slow in furnishing information,” Judge Lucey said.

Khodorkovsky's senior counsel has argued that the freezing of his funds by Irish authorities came on the back of a Russian conviction which was internationally condemned as politically motivated, and he suggested that gardai had cast the Irish state in the role of “Putin’s lapdog”.

Responding to a statement that Irish investigators spent four days in Moscow as part of their inquiry, Farrell said, “I'm sure the Muscovite police must have been delighted, finally another police force is taking interest in Khodorkovsky.”

“I think the court can be reasonably satisfied that there is an investigation taking place,” McDowell told the court, adding that the idea “the gardai is doing Putin’s work is wholly misconceived.”

It was confirmed in court Wednesday that no file had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the Khodorkovsky investigation. McDowell added Thursday that a file would be put forward when the investigation was finished and the DPP’s decision on whether to prosecute would be the end of the matter.

The possibility of Khodorkovsky standing trial in Ireland if a prosecution is pursued was also discussed in court on Thursday.

Judge Lucey asked if Khodorkovsky would have to be extradited from the UK if he was to stand trial, to which McDowell replied, yes, but that he may choose to travel voluntarily as he would be afforded the rights of all accused persons in Ireland.

Farrell also said that even after four days of hearings, the court still hasn’t been told what criminal conduct is being investigated, apart from the Russian conviction.

The court concluded hearings on Thursday and the judge indicated he will present his decision in the matter on December 7 or 8.

Srdja Trifkovic, foreign affairs editor for “Chronicles” magazine said that eventually the Irish Judge will release the funds, yielding to pressure from EU members states, who might argue that the issue is politically charged.

“Ireland will be under intense pressure from other EU countries as well as from the United States to treat the whole case against Khodorkovsky as primarily political rather than legal. And I would be pleasantly surprised if they were to stick to their guns.”

If Khodorkovsky was a “Putin loyalist”, Trifkovic says,”there is no doubt in my mind that the funds would not have been released.”

“He is a crook and we know that he is because on the basis of two previous convictions, there is little reasonable doubt to that fact,” Trifkovic said. “However in the Western world, perfectly cogent, legal and political arguments are hidden behind the smoke screen of Russophobic propaganda.”

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
www.rt.com/news/369469-mikhail-khodorkovsky-ireland-ruling/

Khodorkovsky $105mn richer: Irish judge ‘unfreezes’ offshore cash pile.

RT.com
7 Dec, 2016 11:41

An Irish court has granted an application by Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to release €100 million ($105mn) of his funds that were frozen after a request by Irish fraud investigators in 2011.

Judge Timothy Lucey made the ruling at a sitting of Dublin District Court on Wednesday, following a four-day hearing in November.

In coming to the decision, Lucey said the burden of proof was on Khodorkovsky to prove there were no grounds for a freezing order and that the court’s decision had to be based on evidence, which is something that Khodorkovsky had provided plenty of, the court said.

Lucey said the court believed the applicant’s evidence and was “satisfied that there are no reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering,” so was revoking the order to freeze the funds.

When weighing up the decision, the court said it seemed there had been an “imbalance of evidence,” and detailed how Gardai (Irish police force) appeared to have ignored a vast amount of material provided to them, which, the court said, may have been because the Gardai thought they didn’t have to do anything as the burden of proof was on Khodorkovsky.

Lucey did acknowledge, however, that weight had to be given to the sworn evidence from Gardai that “on the balance of probabilities,” there is an ongoing investigation into the source of the funds and any potential money laundering.

Speaking afterwards, Khodorkovsky welcomed the decision of the court, saying it would "upset the trolls."

"Irish court supported my application to unfreeze account blocked since 2011. Lies about laundering exactly that," he tweeted.

The Irish-domiciled funds, which are in trusts, have been frozen since March 2011. The Irish state has renewed its freezing of the assets every 28 days for the past five-and-a-half years.

During the hearing, Senior Counsel for the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, Michael McDowell, argued that in order for the court to grant the release of funds it must be satisfied that there is either no ongoing police investigation or no reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering.

McDowell read a sworn statement from a police officer involved in an ongoing investigation into Khodorkovsky, his business partner Platon Lebedev and corporate entities associated with them. The officer said Irish police spent four days in Moscow as part of their investigation.

Remy Farrell, Senior Counsel for Khodorkovsky, told the court the Irish police had cast the Irish state in the role of “Putin’s lapdog," something which Lucey denied was the case during Wednesday's ruling.

He said, "An Garda Siochana [Ireland’s police force] have acted as the instrument of a universally-discredited Russian regime," arguing that the only evidence of criminal conduct was the Russian conviction which he described as internationally considered politically motivated.

Throughout the hearing the judge expressed concerns over the length of time the assets had been frozen and the lack of transparency regarding a police investigation.

“I’ve been asking all along who’s going to be charged here and what’s it all about,” he said.

"[It’s] just as well it wasn't a two-year old race horse – it would be dog meat by now," he quipped at one point.

Yukos founder Khodorkovsky was convicted of tax evasion in Russia in 2005 and sentenced to nine years in prison. In 2009 he was charged with embezzlement and money laundering and sentenced in 2010 to 14 years in prison, minus the term that he had already served.

Khodorkovsky was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin in December 2013 as his mother was ill.

[TsarSamuil]

Nemtsov killer sentenced to 20yrs behind bars, accomplices to 11-19yrs.

RT.com
13 Jul, 2017 08:25

A court in Moscow has sentenced five Chechen men found guilty of killing prominent Russian politician Boris Nemtsov in early 2015 to 11 to 20 years in prison.

“Zaur Dadaev was given a 20-year jail sentence and a fine of 100,000 rubles, Anzor Gubashev’s sentence is 19 years in prison and a 100,000-ruble fine, Shadid Gubashev is to serve 16 years behind bars and pay a 100,000-ruble fine, Temirlan Eskerkhanov received a 14-year jail term and a 100,000-ruble fine, and Khamzat Bakhaev was issued an 11-year sentence and a 100,000-ruble fine,” reads the verdict.

The jail sentences will commence from March 2015, when all five were detained.

The convicted will serve their sentences in a maximum security prison. Apart from the jail sentences, all except Dadaev have also been assigned additional punishment of two extra years of restricted freedom after serving their jail terms.

In late June, the jury found that investigators had proved that in late September 2014, the five suspects agreed to kill Nemtsov in exchange for 15 million rubles (currently $US250,000).

All five convicted denied any guilt.

Investigators named the person who ordered the hit and masterminded the murder as Ruslan Mukhudinov. He has been on the international wanted list since November 2015 and is still at large.

No other masterminds have been established yet, according to the Investigative Committee. The collection of evidence against the masterminds of Nemtsov’s murder continues, said Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee.

The jury’s verdict in the case was postponed several times, as a large amount of evidence had to be studied. Two of the jurors were released of their duties.

The passing of the verdict was delayed twice this week because the jury became fatigued while carrying out a final review of the extensive amount of documents in the case.

Boris Nemtsov, a veteran politician and key opposition figure, was shot dead on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, near the Kremlin, in February 2015.

The assassination resulted in a demonstration of thousands in Moscow, demanding the killers be found and brought to justice.

Russian President Vladimir Putin personally promised in a speech that everything would be done to bring those responsible for the killing to justice.

In March 2015, Russian police arrested five suspects, including two suspected hit men. One of them, Zaur Dadaev, had reportedly confessed his involvement in the murder and said it was revenge for Nemtsov’s “negative comments on Muslims and Islam.” However, in subsequent developments, Dadaev insisted on his innocence.

A religious motive, which had been examined during the investigation hasn’t been confirmed, Svetlana Petrenko said, adding the perpetrators were guided by greed.

“The investigation examined the statements by Zaur Dadaev and Anzor Gubashev that they killed Boris Nemtsov out of religious hatred, since the victim had supported the Charlie Hebdo caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, published in January 2015,” she said.

“Gathered evidence fully confirms that the convicted had been driven by greed, i.e. a 15 million-ruble reward,” Petrenko said.

[TsarSamuil]

re-name street with US embassy in Moscow with someone they assassinated I say

like Kennedy

PATHETIC: US Renames the Names Square in Front of Russian Embassy After Nemtsov.

Russia Insider
Jan 15, 2018



On February 27, the square in front of the Russian embassy in Washington will be officially named after Nemtzov. The city council of the American capital voted unanimously for it, and even for the acceleration of the process.

[TsarSamuil]

Let Them Rot: Disgraced Oligarchs Holed Up in Londonstan Beg Russia to Protect and Take Them Back.

Vesti News
Feb 6, 2018



Andrey Kostin the head of VTB about the initiative of Boris Titov "business tsar", as the Times called him, who produced the list of Russian runaway businessmen who seem to be ready to return to Russia paying off their debts and damages.

[TsarSamuil]

Close associate of late runaway Russian tycoon Berezovsky dies in London.

RT.com
13 Mar, 2018 20:08

A Russian businessman and an associate of the one-time billionaire Boris Berezovsky, Nikolay Glushkov, has died in London. Police treated his death as “unexplained” but said it was not linked to the ex-double agent poisoning case.

Glushkov died in his home in London, the Russian Vedomosti newspaper board member, Damian Kudryavtsev, told the Russian Govorit Moskva radio station, citing some “common friends” he had with the deceased. He also said that the cause of Glushkov’s death is unknown to him.

In the meantime, British police confirmed the death of a man “in his 60s” who lived in Clarence Avenue, New Malden, which was Glushkov’s London residential address. Police also said that they treat the death as “unexplained,” adding that a counter-terrorism department is investigating the incident because of “associations” the deceased man is believed to have had, as reported by Reuters.

At the same time, police stated that there is “no evidence” suggesting that the man’s death has any link to “the incident in Salisbury.” The police referred to a recent incident in which the exchanged Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with what they described as a nerve agent.

Despite the police statement, the businessman’s death seems to have prompted another wave of hysteria and conspiracy theories on social media.

Glushkov was a Russian businessman who worked closely with Berezovsky in 1990s. He was a deputy CEO in a number of Russian companies, including Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline.

In 1999, he was accused of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. In 2004, he was sentenced to three years and three months in prison. In 2010, he fled to the UK, where he was granted political asylum. In 2017, a Moscow court reviewed his case and he was sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia for stealing as much as $123 million from Aeroflot in the 1990s.

His close associate, Berezovsky, was also found guilty in several high-profile fraud and embezzlement cases. The tycoon, who was once one of Russia’s richest people, fled Russia in 2000, as he faced criminal charges. In 2013, Berezovsky was found dead in his home in the UK, apparently after committing suicide.

[TsarSamuil]

Londongrad is Home to Some of the Worst Russian Criminals - Why Does UK Refuse to Surrender Them?

Vesti News
Mar 17, 2018



'I think we can benefit from the exacerbation of relations,' as said by a man, who's wanted by Russia's Investigative Committee for several fraud charges. The fugitive entrepreneur, Aleksey Shmatko, is hiding in London. He seems to be happy with the Skripal poisoning scandal. Another one claims to only be afraid of mysterious Russian agents, while fully supporting the position of the UK government. That was stated by another fugitive fraudster, Vladimir Ashurkov. He isn't worried, saying that the UK makes informed decisions. He probably means that the Crown willfully covers for him and those like him before Moscow. Oleg Tinkov's daughter, Darya stands out in this situation. Apparently, she's now ashamed to be Russian in London. She thinks people in her home country don't know how to behave properly. She eventually deleted her post from Instagram, but the damage is done. All these people are responsible for their own statements. However, we'd like to ask their opinions on the fact that the UK has been refusing to extradite over 40 Russian fugitives for years. Their guilt has definitely been proven, from former bankers to murderers. Who are they?

[TsarSamuil]

Moscow court arrests billionaire tycoon Magomedov on suspicion of embezzling $44mn.

RT.com
1 Apr, 2018 00:37

Russian billionaire businessman Ziyavudin Magomedov, a co-owner of the Summa investment group, was arrested on Saturday on charges of misappropriating millions in state funds designed for infrastructure and energy projects.

Magomedov was arrested in Moscow together with his brother and Summa co-owner, Magomed Magomedov, and the head of one of the companies involved in Summa, Artur Maksidov.

The businessmen brothers are suspected of theft by fraud and embezzlement while acting as part of an organized crime group. The prosecution believes the stolen money, some 2.5 billion rubles ($44 million), have been transferred from Russia to be deposited in offshore accounts controlled by Magomedov. The exact whereabouts of the money is unknown, the prosecutor's office admitted on Saturday.

Magomedov, who has stakes in construction, logistics, transportation and energy companies through his multi-profile Summa group, landed the sixty-third spot on the Forbes' list of Russia's richest businessmen. His personal assets are estimated to be worth $1.4 billion. His brother, Magomed Magomedov, has an estimated net worth of $0.45 billion.

In the run-up to the arrests, extensive searches were carried out in 25 Russian regions, including in Moscow, the Russian Interior Ministry reported.

Russian Kommersant daily reported that investigations were also conducted into the embezzlement of some 752 million rubles ($13.2 million) from the construction of a football stadium in Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad, which was commissioned for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Russia

At the pre-trial hearing in Moscow's Tverskoy District Court, Magomedov pleaded not guilty, claiming that the case against him "does not stand up to scrutiny." The court ordered Magomedov and his brother be to kept in custody for two months, until May 30, thus refusing an unprecedentedly high bail, which amounted to the total sum of losses the brothers are accused of causing the state budget – 2.5 billion rubles. The investigators revealed that Magomedov had booked tickets to Miami for the following day and might flee the prosecution, as he has a private jet at his disposal. Magomedov insisted that he planned to undergo a medical procedure in the US and intended to return to Moscow by April 10.

The investigation said at least five other people face charges in what is slated to become one of the most high-profile embezzlement investigations in Russia in recent years. Two of them are on the run in the United Arab Emirates and have been arrested in absentia.

Summa's group actives include a stake in the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (JSC), Russia's largest commercial seaport operator, which it co-owns with Russian state-funded oil company Transneft and FESCO Transportation Group.

Besides his investment in projects in Russia, Magomedov sits on the executive board of the Los Angeles-based Virgin Hyperloop One, a futuristic transportation startup chaired by Richard Branson.

[TsarSamuil]

Russophobia’s Amusing Side-Effects: Oligarch Roman Abramovich Can’t Get a UK Visa Anymore.

Vesti News
May 22, 2018



London today called for expanding sanctions imposed on Russian businesspeople. Russian President's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has already called this an example of Britain's Russophobic mania. In a weird coincidence, reports have appeared that Roman Abramovich had suddenly faced problems with a UK visa.

[TsarSamuil]

Roman Abramovich becomes Israeli citizen after UK delays visa renewal.

RT.com
28 May, 2018 19:37

Russia’s Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, has been granted Israeli citizenship. The move coincides with a delayed renewal of his UK visa, which some view as part of a crackdown on wealthy Russians.

Abramovich, who is worth an estimated £8.6 billion ($11.4 billion), exercised his right under Israel’s Law of Return, which allows Jews from anywhere in the world to gain Israeli citizenship.

Incidentally, with his new citizenship, Abramovich has instantly become Israel’s richest person – and perhaps he’ll find it easier to get back into the UK as an Israeli citizen. Unlike the Russians, the Israelis do get a visa-free stay in the UK for up to six months straight, but it’s not clear if the decision on the Tier 1 investor visa that he needs is actually affected by the citizenship of the applicant.

It comes amid speculations that the delay in renewing Abramovich’s UK visa is due to heightened tensions between London and Moscow. Former UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced in March that UK authorities would review the visa status of hundreds of wealthy Russians who had settled in the UK.

[TsarSamuil]

Berezovsky’s Daughter Speaks Out: British Intelligence Killed Former Asset to Prevent Him Leaking.

Vesti News
Jul 10, 2018



This week, Britain once again shook itself by the news that two more people, a man and a woman in their 40s, were poisoned. The incident took place in a small city of Amesbury, not far from Salisbury, where the Skripal father and daughter had been found earlier. It looks like the success of the World Cup hosted by Russia is sticking in London's gizzard so much that the UK authorities had to find another contaminated couple just so that could hint that Moscow was behind the attack, again.

[TsarSamuil]

Russia ready to ‘fight off’ Western attempts to seize its assets in $50bn battle with oligarchs over collapsed Yukos oil empire.

RT.com
29 Dec, 2020 12:43

Any hope of a quiet 2021 for Russia has been dashed as one of the country’s top officials warns it faces a series of court battles that risk confrontation with the West, including a fight over the world’s largest legal bill.

In an interview published by Moscow news agency Interfax on Tuesday, Deputy Justice Minister Mikhail Galperin said that litigation over the collapsed Yukos oil empire and fallout from Russia’s 2014 reabsorption of Crimea means that “a tough year” is on the cards.

The long-running dispute over Yukos, once among Russia’s leading energy firms and one of the most valuable companies in the world, has been raging for years. However, it now appears to be coming to a head as the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, which claims it has jurisdiction in the case, prepares to hear an appeal from Russia’s lawyers. A legal settlement of more than $50 billion, thought to be the largest in history, hangs in the balance.

“Of course, we’re not sitting idly, waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Galperin. “Every day, we’re defending our national interests in this case in different ways. Legal battles related to the Yukos case are taking place not only in the Netherlands, but in other jurisdictions as well.”

Those who lost money in the collapse of the Yukos empire insist that the arrest of its CEO on fraud charges and a colossal bill in back-taxes amounted to state appropriation.

Russian authorities argue that previous rulings in foreign courts on the side of the claimants failed to take into account Russia’s anti-corruption laws, and claim that the investors weren’t “bona fide.” Moscow also insists that only Russia’s courts have jurisdiction, as the Energy Charter Treaty under which the case is being brought was signed but never ratified.

Galperin added that the country’s “main legal argument is that Russia never agreed for the case to be heard by an international court of arbitration, which means that the judges had no mandate to consider the lawsuit Yukos ex-shareholders filed against Russia.”

Last week, one of Russia’s highest judicial authorities ruled that the country should disregard any judgement coming from overseas tribunals. They state that, while the government of the day took steps to join the Energy Charter Treaty in 1994, they did not have the authority to make national laws subject to international agreements, or to “challenge the competence” of Russian courts. Therefore, the jurists conclude, adhering to the Dutch court’s demands would be “unconstitutional.”

However, if the verdict goes in favor of Yukos’ former shareholders, refusing to pay the bill could have substantial repercussions for Russia, with the claimants already calling for the confiscation of the country’s assets overseas as collateral.

Galperin, however, is confident that Russia could avoid cash and property falling into the hands of the oligarchs who have brought the case. “Since 2014,” he said, “they have made multiple unscrupulous attempts to seize not only state property, but also assets that belong to Russian companies in Western Europe. We have successfully repelled all these assaults.”

“While we can’t rule out that in 2021 YUKOS ex-shareholders will continue their legal battle in a number of countries, I can tell you without unnecessary bravado that we are fully prepared to fight off any attempts to seize our property in any country of the world.”

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands is expected to hear the case in February next year, while simultaneous battles have also been fought in US and British courts. The row comes at a time when tensions between Russia and the West are growing, with Moscow’s diplomats arguing that verdicts against the country have been “politically motivated.” In December, Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko told journalists that the case is part of a “legal war that has been declared on Russia.”

As well as the Yukos case potentially reaching a dramatic climax, Galperin expects that his ministry will have their hands full next year with at least two other international disputes. As early as January, the European Court of Human Rights is expected to announce a decision on a legal fight between Moscow and Kiev over disputed Crimea. There is a further $8 billion claim from a Ukrainian energy firm that insists it lost its assets when the peninsula was reabsorbed into Russia. The same court will also rule on a case brought by Georgia over events in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008.