Yukos Investors Set Back in Wresting $50 Billion From Russia (2)

Several OAO Yukos Oil Co. investors seeking to enforce a $50 billion arbitration award against the Russian Federation must return to a district court to try to overcome the sovereign immunity defense, the DC Circuit said Tuesday.

Whether an arbitration agreement existed—helping confer jurisdiction—is a question the district court must evaluate on its own, rather than relying on an arbitral tribunal’s determination, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said. The appeals court vacated a lower court’s decision declining to dismiss a suit seeking to force Russia to pay the award.

The suit stems from the ...