Russia Ordered To Pay $2.5bn To Yukos Shareholders

Russia has been ordered to pay about $2.5bn (£1.5bn; 1.9bn euros) to former shareholders in defunct oil group Yukos by the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia's Justice Ministry said the latest ruling was "unfair" and it had three months to appeal the decision.
Earlier this week, a court in the Hague told Russia to pay $50bn to former Yukos shareholders.
It said Russian officials had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt the company and jail its boss.
Russia has already said it will appeal the Hague court's ruling.
The latest ruling from the European Court of Human Rights stated: "The respondent state is to pay the applicant company's shareholders as they stood at the time of the company's liquidation and, as the case may be, their legal successors and heirs 1,866,104,634 euros, plus any tax that may be chargeable."
It went on to say that Russia had six months to come with a "comprehensive plan" to pay the shareholders.
Yukos was disbanded in 2007 after filing for bankruptcy in 2006. It was controlled by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, who spent ten years in jail after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion.
He was pardoned in December last year.
Source:bbc.co.uk