Dagelijks archief: november 16, 2015

The Yukos saga continued: Russia retaliates against attempts in the West to seize Russian assets

RussiaIn an earlier blogpost, I reported that a number of Western states envisaged lifting the immunity from execution of the Russian Federation and seizing Russian government assets. They did so at the request of creditors seeking to enforce a 50 billion dollar award issued by a Hague-based international investment tribunal in a case about the expropriation of the Yukos energy company. Russian retaliation against these measures was to be expected. Russian pressure resulted rather swiftly in Belgium unfreezing the seizure of Russian bank accounts. Now, as reported by the Kremlin-backed news outlet Russia Today, in a move that is set to further deteriorate relations between Russia and the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also signed a law that allows Russia to seize assets of foreign states which wrongfully seized Russian property (for those who read Russian: the text of the law is available here). While this law could easily be characterized as the umpteenth example of Russian bare-knuckle power politics, it is nonetheless not necessarily internationally unlawful. Lees verder