July 29, 2014 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – July 29, 2014

TODAY: Hague tribunal orders $50bn Yukos payout, Lavrov hints at appeal; U.S. accuses Russia of violating Cold War nuclear arms treaty; Pussy Riot seek compensation; West expected to issue further sanctions in wake of MH17 crash; British lawyers preparing to sue Putin; geckos found in space.

As expected, a tribunal in the Hague ordered Russia to make a $50 billion payout to former shareholders of oil company Yukos, having ruled that the state had purposefully sought to bankrupt it. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the company’s former CEO, welcomed the ruling as ‘fantastic, but said he hoped the money would come from the state, and not from ‘the pockets of mafiosi linked to the powers that be’.  The ruling saw a decline in Russia’s RTS index; oil major Rosneft says the case will not affect it or its assets.  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow may launch an appeal of the decision.  A legal academic in the UK told RFE/RL that there is no appeal mechanism for the decision, only a possibility to challenge the final sum; he also said that ruling could take at least ten years to enforce.  The U.S. has accused Russia of violating a 1988 Cold War treaty regulating nuclear weapons, and is calling for Russia to ‘eliminate any prohibited items’ and engage in immediate bilateral talks. It remains unclear which terms of the treaty have been violated.  Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are seeking damages from Russia in their case before the European Court of Human Rights – in the sum of €120,000 each, plus legal fees – in compensation for their two year imprisonment.