MOSCOW, July 28 (RAPSI) – The Samara Region Commercial Court has ruled in favor of Rosneft’s second largest oil and gas subsidiary, Samaraneftegaz, which was ordered by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to pay $185.9 million to Luxembourg-based Yukos Capital, RAPSI learned at the court on Monday.

The dispute revolves around two July 2004 loan agreements under which Yukos Capital, controlled by former Yukos managers, loaned over 2.4 billion rubles ($75.1 million) to Samaraneftegaz, which was a Yukos subsidiary until 2007.

In 2006, Yukos Capital filed a lawsuit with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris to collect unpaid loans under these agreements. In 2007, the ICC ruled in favor of Yukos Capital, but Samaraneftegaz refused to voluntarily comply with its ruling.

In 2010, Yukos Capital filed a lawsuit with the commercial court of the Samara Region to recognize and enforce the ICC ruling. The Samara court dismissed the lawsuit in 2011, arguing that the ICC infringed on the Russian company’s right to defense and that its ruling contradicted the Russian public policy.

Yukos Capital subsequently turned for help to the District Court for the Southern District of New York, which granted its request for the enforcement of an arbitration award it had earlier won in the ICC. In October 2013, it ordered Samaraneftegaz to pay over $185 million to the plaintiff.

In June 2014, Samaraneftegaz asked the Samara court to clarify its 2011 ruling. The Samara court’s clarification states that its decision of 2011 rules out the possibility of the ICC decision’s enforcement in Russia.