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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch Supreme Court on Friday denied an appeal by Russia against the seizure of the rights to the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya vodka brand names for the Benelux market by the former shareholders of now-defunct oil producer Yukos.
The former shareholders said they would now sell the Benelux rights to the 18 vodka brands in total, in order to receive at least part of the $50 billion arbitration award Russia was ordered to pay them in 2014.
The verdict on the brand names follows the denial by a lower court last month of an appeal by Russia against the arbitration award, which Russia so far has refused to pay.
Yukos collapsed in 2006 after oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky fell out with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the government began demanding billions of dollars in alleged back taxes that resulted in Yukos ultimately being seized by the state.
Russia will ask the Dutch Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s verdict on the arbitration award, the TASS state news agency said earlier this month.
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