Brussels Court to Rule on Russia Assets Freeze in Yukos Case by Late January

An arbitration court in Brussels will rule in two months on whether Belgium should unfreeze Russian state assets that were arrested in the case of defunct oil firm Yukos, a lawyer representing Russia said Monday.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — In 2014, a Hague court ruled that Russia must repay $50 billion to Yukos shareholders after it seized the firm's assets. Russia appealed the ruling, prompting shareholders to ask several countries to arrest Russian property. Belgium and France froze some of its immovables in 2015.

Russia brought the case before the Brussels arbitration court, which concluded week-long hearings on Monday, Niuscha Bassiri, a partner at the Belgian law firm Hanotiau & van den Berg told reporters.

The lawyer said the court would deliver its judgment in the Russian lawsuit by January 26, 2017. She said the judge would also rule on whether to void the receiving order which authorizes arrests of assets at the request of Yukos’s former shareholders.