Former Yukos shareholders have forced the seizure of Russian assets in France, according to a Forbes report on June 18.

News broke the day before that Russian property (with the exception of diplomatic property), had been seized in Belgium, as per The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision, made in July 2014, to award former Yukos shareholders with 50 billion dollars in compensation from Russia for the illegal expropriation of the oil company’s assets.

The information regarding the seizure of Russian property in France was confirmed by presidential aide Andrei Belousov. “We shall challenge these decisions regarding both France and Belgium, and all the other countries,” RIA Novosti quotes him as saying. “We believe that there was a lot of legal uncertainly in everything relating to the Hague court’s decision. We regard the decisions of the ECHR and The Hague ruling as somewhat controversial, and international lawyers are working to protect our interests.”

VTB head Andrey Kostin told RBC on Thursday that the accounts of Russian companies and diplomatic missions were blocked in the French subsidiary of the bank. The latter, he says, were quickly unfrozen.

In Belgium, all Russian institutions were subject to the seizure order, including the Russian Orthodox Archbishopric of Brussels and Belgium, major banks, NGOS and media organisations.

In addition to the Hague verdict, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg also ruled in favour of the former Yukos shareholders, awarding them 1.8 billion euros in compensation. The Russian side is contesting both decisions. In view of Russia’s refusal to abide by these rulings, Group Menatep Limited filed an application in May at the courts of the United Kingdom, France, USA, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, demanding the seizure of Russian property on the territory of these countries.

GML chief Tim Osborne said that the former Yukos shareholders have no other choice but to seek the seizure of state property abroad. “Russia has refused to abide by the decisions of the two courts and is now paying the price,” Forbes quotes him as saying. “We have no other means of action. There’s been no attempt on the part of Russia reach an agreement with us today, just as there’s no reason to believe that Russia is prepared to engage in dialogue. Although from a commercial point of view, this would be the rational thing to do.”