On 25 February 2022, Dmitry Medvedev, the ex-President of Russia and now the Deputy Chairman of the Russia’s Security Council, announced that in response to Western sanctions Russia may start seizing funds of foreign companies and individuals and nationalize assets of Western companies. These measures may be introduced against nationals and companies of any foreign state which starts confiscating and seizing money and other property of Russians located on its territory. Over the last three…
On 28 January 2022, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“Russian MFA”) notified the representative office of the European Union about the expansion of the list of representatives of EU member states and institutions prohibited from entering the territory of the Russian Federation. The names of the banned persons did not become public. No economic sanctions have been imposed against them. This sanction has been imposed on: Executives of several European private military companiesRepresentatives of…
On 25 November 2021, the new draft bill was registered in the State Duma providing for the extension of the exclusive competence of Russian arbitrazh (commercial) courts. Among the initiators of the bill was Andrey Lugovoy. The essence of amendments The future amendments will provide the right for Russian persons to file a lawsuit against a foreign person who directly or indirectly contributed to the adoption of restrictive measures. Such a contribution may take the…
On 2 December 2021, the Supreme Court of Russia (“Supreme Court”) ruled that Russian entities are not obliged to prove limited access to justice in foreign arbitration in order to refer disputes to Russian state arbitrazh courts. The mere fact that such Russian entities are subject to any sanctions should be enough for that purpose. The Supreme Court stressed the following: Any sanctions imposed on a Russia entity already give rise to justifiable doubts as…