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Strasbourg - Europe's top human rights court awarded shareholders in Yukos $2.6bn in damages on Thursday, a new blow to Russia, just days after some of the former oil company's shareholders won $50bn in The Hague.
The Strasbourg-based court found that Russia had failed to "strike a fair balance" in its treatment of Yukos, once run by former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and had forced the company to pay excessive fees.
While the money awarded by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a fraction of what Yukos sought, it hits Russia hard at a time when the country is on the brink of recession and is reeling from tougher sanctions imposed by the West this week over its actions in Ukraine.
Could appeal
"We received the news with a great joy, this is an unprecedented decision, the court has never ever awarded such a big sum," said Olga Pispanen, a spokesperson for Khodorkovsky, who was arrested at gunpoint in 2003 and convicted of theft and tax evasion in 2005.
He was released last year after 10 years in prison.
Yukos, once worth $40bn, was broken up and nationalised a decade ago, with most of its assets handed to Rosneft, an energy giant run by an ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Russia's Justice Ministry said the ruling was unfair and biased and said it could appeal within three months.
