Today we are seeing a lot of interesting discussions on yesterday’s court decision which found that Russia is still bound by the Energy Charter Treaty, making them potentially liable in a suit being brought by Yukos shareholders for the expropriation of the company which could touch $100 billion – by far the largest in international arbitration history.

As Jason Bush notes in a Reuters opinion piece, although lawsuits against sovereign states are rarely won, the jurisdiction win is embarassing for Russia as “the legal justifications for its actions against Yukos have long met with widespread scepticism abroad.”  If Russia were to lose the arbitration, there is the (likely) chance they will refuse to observe the decision … meaning that shareholders could try to seize the state’s foreign assets.

There are some other angles at play as well for Europe in dealing with Gazprom.