A British judge yesterday refused an application by embattled YUKOS to block the start of trading in rival Russian oil company Rosneft's shares on the London Stock Exchange.
The judge said an appeals court was now waiting to hear the case.
YUKOS had argued that the $10.4 billion initial public offering - Russia's largest - amounted to the sale of stolen property.
Rosneft's main producing asset, a company called Yugansk, was formerly the core of YUKOS, once Russia's largest oil company. Shares in Rosneft are due to start trading in London today.
Russian authorities seized Yugansk to pay massive tax claims that analysts saw as a Kremlin attack on YUKOS's politically ambitious founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Rosneft argues that, since the seizure was an "act of state", the UK's Proceeds of Crime Act, which attempts to prevent the resale of stolen property and money laundering, could not be applied. YUKOS disagreed.
"Proceeds of crime legislation should be used to prevent rogue regimes from acting in criminal or unlawful ways," YUKOS lawyer Clare Montgomery told the High Court in London on Monday.