(CNN) -- The brand name Yukos no longer exists and its former founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky has left Russia after being freed from jail, but a landmark ruling in the Hague released Monday ensures their legacy will live on during a sensitive period of time for Vladimir Putin. Yukos was one of Russia's oil giants through the 1990s and until the early 2000s, when its assets were expropriated by the state after a political battle with Khodorkovsky. Now the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in what is considered a landmark judgment, has ordered payment of damages to its former shareholders, totaling $50 billion and including interest and fees for violation of a treaty covering Russia's energy assets.
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A court decision awards $50 billion to now-defunct Russian oil giant Yukos' former shareholders
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The case has been rumbling for almost a decade, after Yukos assets were expropriate by the state
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The win is seen as a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose relations with the West are strained
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