As reported by the FT yesterday (26 January 2022, article available here), the ECB has warned European lenders of the potential risks they will face, should further sanctions be imposed against Russia in the event of an invasion of Ukraine. The impact of any sanctions would not be limited to Russian financial institutions/businesses but is likely to be felt across the world, especially by financial institutions who have significant Russian exposure. The FT reported that…
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…
On July 28, 2020, in the State Duma of Russia was introduced the Draft Bill No. 996800 proposing additional Russian countersanctions (“Draft”). The Draft proposes to introduce amendments to the Federal law No. 281-FZ dated December 30, 2006 “On special economic measures and coercive actions” that sets forth the legal framework for the Russian countersanctions regime. The Draft proposes the following principal provisions: Application of the restrictive measures to the entities controlled by the sanctioned persons. These…