The European Court of Human Rights' dismissal of the political motivation allegations in the Yukos case is a victory for the Russian government, Western media said.
The ECHR ruled on Tuesday that the Russian authorities had violated the rights of the now-defunct Yukos company, but rejected claims that the break-up of the oil giant was politically motivated.
"The Russian government appears to have got off lightly," according to The Economist.
"After nearly 18 months of deliberations, the court decided that the attack on Yukos was not politically motivated," the paper said, adding that the court "did not find that Russia had abused its legal system to destroy the company."
That view was shared by German papers Suddeutsche Zeitun and Der Spiegel.
The ECHR's ruling has cleared the Russian authorities of all charges, France's Les Echos said, while according to Le Monde, it has effectively upheld the 14-year prison sentence handed out to Yukos' former owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The court also deferred consideration of a Yukos claim for $98 billion in compensation, giving the parties three months to reach an out-of-court settlement. The claim was the biggest ever filed at the court.
In its ruling, the court said the Russian authorities had carried out "legitimate actions... to counter the company's tax evasion".
The judges also ruled that "There was no violation of Article 14 [prohibition of discrimination]... concerning whether Yukos was treated differently from other companies."
But it also ruled that Russian officials had failed to give the company enough time to prepare its defense and had violated the company's property rights.
Lawyers for Yukos, which once pumped out more oil than both Libya and Qatar, had said that the company was hounded out of business after Khodorkovsky - then Russia's richest man - began funding the Russian opposition. The Kremlin has consistently denied the allegation.
