PARIS (AP) – The fight between Russia’s government and magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s dismantled Yukos oil company has spread to courtrooms across Europe – and even into space.
France has seen multiple court cases in recent months that had entangled rocket and satellite builders and others, in Yukos’ efforts to recover money it says the Kremlin unfairly appropriated. Former Yukos shareholders won a key case in December, but the Russian state has chalked up several French legal victories since, including a multi-pronged ruling Friday in Paris involving half a billion dollars in assets.
Both sides are watching the French cases ahead of a higher-stakes decision in the Netherlands next week, involving a 2014 arbitration ruling ordering Russia to pay ex-Yukos shareholders $50 billion.
Russia doesn’t recognize that ruling, so shareholders have tried to seize Russian assets abroad, including in France.
The dispute dates to Khodorkovsky’s 2003 arrest on charges of tax evasion, embezzlement and money laundering that were seen as a punishment for challenging Vladimir Putin’s power. Yukos was destroyed and Khodorkovsky now lives in exile after 10 years in prison.