…The timing is particularly important given a $98 billion claim made in the European Court of Human Rights against Russia by Yukos before its destruction. Despite Russia’s protests that Yukos no longer exists, the court accepted the case; a judgment is pending. In its defence, Russia argued that “the integrity, professionalism and independence” of Russian courts has not been challenged. But the European Court, which regularly overturns Russian legal judgments, may have a different view. If it finds in Yukos’s favour, the shareholders could seek enforcement in any court in Europe.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Yukos’s former owner, already serving an eight-year sentence for tax evasion, is now on trial for stealing oil as well. According to a recent poll, 41% of Russians believe that the government is putting pressure on the courts to secure a guilty verdict, whereas only 20% think otherwise.

The Kremlin has tried to portray Mr Khodorkovsky as a blood-soaked gangster and Yukos’s destruction as a noble act on behalf of Russia’s defrauded taxpayers. In a recent phone-in session open to the public, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, in effect accused Mr Khodorkovsky of murder, diverted responsibility for Yukos’s bankruptcy to foreign banks and took pride in returning to the Russian people the money he says was stolen from them.

But few Russians seem to subscribe to that version of events. According to the same poll, only 7% of respondents believe that the destruction of Yukos has benefited the people, whereas 63% believe it was orchestrated in the interests of a small group of bureaucrats and businessmen with close ties to the Kremlin. The thought that some foreign courts might share that view must truly haunt Russia’s rulers.

via Yukos haunts Rosneft: A spectre of litigation | The Economist.