Timeline
2001
Yukos is the first Russian oil company to publish quarterly financial reports.
2002
Yukos publishes its entire ownership structure.
2003
Yukos employs 100,000 people, becomes Russia's largest taxpayer, reaches a market value of $33 billion, and joins the Financial Times top-10 global companies for shareholder confidence.
February 2003
Yukos chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, takes part in a televised meeting with President Putin and other business leaders, and calls for action against corruption.
October
Khodorkovsky is seized at gunpoint by security services, and spends the next decade in jail.
December
Tax ministry demands $3.5 billion from Yukos – only months after a regular audit gives the company a clean bill of health – and orders payment within two days.
2004
Russian authorities seize all shares in Yukos's largest production facility, Yuganskneftegaz. The facility is later auctioned off in 10 minutes to Baikal Finance Group, a company that had been registered just a few days before. Within days of the auction, Baikal is acquired by Rosneft, the State-controlled oil producer.
2005
GML commences independent arbitration proceedings in The Hague. Three renowned arbitrators are chosen: one by the Russian Federation, one by GML, and one by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which administers the proceedings. Over nine years they examine more than 4,000 pages of evidence, hold 33 days of hearings, and listen to 23 expert witnesses.
2006
Yukos is forced into bankruptcy.
A man of honour, Vasily Aleksanyan (above) refuses to give false testimony against his Yukos colleagues. The European Court of Human Rights condemns his detention but he dies two years after his release, having been denied urgent medical treatment.
18 July 2014
The arbitral tribunal sitting in The Hague rules that Yukos was illegally expropriated by the Russian Federation and awards compensation of more than $50 billion to GML. This is what the tribunal said:
Russian courts bent to the will of Russian executive authorities to bankrupt
Yukos, assign its assets to a State-controlled company, and incarcerate a
man who gave signs of becoming a political competitor.
Primary objective of the Russian Federation was not to collect taxes but
rather to bankrupt Yukos and appropriate its valuable assets.
The owners could not have been expected to anticipate that they risked the
evisceration of their investments and the destruction of Yukos.
31 July 2014
European Court of Human Rights awards € 1.9 billion to former Yukos shareholders, ruling that the Russian Federation had violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
2015
As Russia refuses to settle the arbitral awards of $50 billion, GML - via its subsidiaries, Yukos Universal and Hulley Enterprises - commences proceedings to enforce the awards in Belgium, France, Germany, the UK, the US and India.
Following Russian pressure, the Belgian government rushes through an emergency 'Yukos law', making it more difficult for any wronged person to seize foreign state assets. France subsequently adopts similar legislation.
20 April 2016
The Hague District Court does not challenge the merits of the 2014 arbitral ruling but sets aside the award of $50 billion, saying that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction. The decision receives no independent support from any legal commentator.
13 March 2017
GML submits its statement of appeal to The Hague Court of Appeal. Our goal is to overturn the 2016 decision of the District Court.
18 February 2020
The Hague Court of Appeal confirms the arbitral awards, quashing the District Court's ruling.
November 2021
The Dutch Supreme Court rejects all substantive grounds of Russia's cassation appeal, and refers one final matter to Amsterdam Court of Appeal.
February 2022
Former Yukos shareholders submit pleadings to Amsterdam Court of Appeal.
1 November 2023
The High Court in London denied Russia state immunity from jurisdictional protection, bringing the shareholders a significant step closer to enforcing the $50 billion awards in England and Wales.
19 November 2023
The US District Court denied Russia state immunity from jurisdictional protection, bringing the shareholders a significant step closer to enforcing the $50 billion awards in the United States.
20 February 2024
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal dismisses Russia's last remaining challenge to the $50 billion arbitral awards
17 June 2024
First forced sale of the Russian state assets in satisfaction of the Awards - liquor trademarks auctioned for EUR 1.6 million in The Netherlands
