Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) representations his Department has received from and (b) discussions his Department has had with other Council of Europe member states on the non-payment by the Russian Federation to the former majority shareholders in the Yukos oil company of the 1.9 billion euros in compensation awarded to them by the European Court of Human Rights.

We expect all member states, including Russia, to abide by their obligations and comply with rulings made by the European Court of Human Rights. The UK has joined other Council of Europe member states in a debate on the Yukos case within the Committee of Ministers whenever it has been on the agenda. The Committee of Ministers is next due to discuss its supervision of the judgment at its December meeting.