AFP, Moscow :
Moscow threatened Friday to retaliate against state-linked foreign firms operating in Russia after its official assets in Western Europe were frozen over legal claims by former Yukos oil company shareholders.
Russian officials said state accounts had been frozen in Belgium, and representatives of claimants from the defunct oil firm said Russian assets were also blocked in France.
The former shareholders are trying to collect some of the record $50 billion (44 billion euros) in compensation awarded to them by an arbitration court last year for the way Russia seized and dismantled the company after arresting Yukos owner and prominent Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised comments that Russian entities impacted by the moves were preparing to go to court to force the freezing of the assets of “foreign companies with government involvement” in Russia.
In Belgium, accounts of the Russian embassy in Brussels and representative offices at the European Union and NATO headquarters were among those affected, the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday.
In France, accounts in around 40 banks were frozen along with eight or nine buildings, Tim Osborne, executive director of the main shareholder GML, told AFP.
Moscow threatened Friday to retaliate against state-linked foreign firms operating in Russia after its official assets in Western Europe were frozen over legal claims by former Yukos oil company shareholders.
Russian officials said state accounts had been frozen in Belgium, and representatives of claimants from the defunct oil firm said Russian assets were also blocked in France.
The former shareholders are trying to collect some of the record $50 billion (44 billion euros) in compensation awarded to them by an arbitration court last year for the way Russia seized and dismantled the company after arresting Yukos owner and prominent Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised comments that Russian entities impacted by the moves were preparing to go to court to force the freezing of the assets of “foreign companies with government involvement” in Russia.
In Belgium, accounts of the Russian embassy in Brussels and representative offices at the European Union and NATO headquarters were among those affected, the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday.
In France, accounts in around 40 banks were frozen along with eight or nine buildings, Tim Osborne, executive director of the main shareholder GML, told AFP.
