Work Area: Sanctions

An ICC tribunal has rejected allegations that a €1.7 billion award against the Republic of the Congo was obtained by bribing French arbitrator Yves Derains – finding the state’s claims were baseless, time-barred and an opportunistic attempt to delay enforcement proceedings.

07 November 2023

The Russian Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a ruling that blocked a Siemens entity from invoking an Austrian arbitration agreement in its dispute with state-owned Russian Railways.

23 October 2023

Gazprom’s export arm has asked a Russian court to block a US$1.5 billion SCC arbitration brought by a Polish pipeline company over halted gas deliveries.

17 October 2023

Russian energy group Inter RAO has filed for arbitration at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce against three Baltic electricity transmission operators that stopped contractual payments to comply with international sanctions.

16 October 2023

A subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom has been revealed as the target of a set of recent English anti-suit injunction requests by German banks seeking to enforce Paris-seated ICC arbitration clauses.

11 October 2023

A Hong Kong court has upheld an injunction restraining a Gazprom joint venture from pursuing Russian litigation while an HKIAC arbitration is pending, rejecting allegations the sanctioned entity cannot be guaranteed a fair trial at the arbitral institution.

09 October 2023

The Court of Appeal in London has confirmed that the UK sanctions regime does not prevent courts from entering judgment in favour of sanctioned persons in civil litigation – meaning an US$850 million fraud suit brought by two Russian banks can proceed.

09 October 2023

UPDATED: The Commercial Court of England and Wales has said it lacks jurisdiction to grant an anti-suit injunction to enforce a Paris-seated ICC arbitration clause, despite a recent Court of Appeal decision granting a similar injunction.

02 October 2023

The UK has invoked the Energy Charter Treaty’s denial of benefits provision to withdraw protections for special categories of Russian investors, including “mailbox” investors and those subject to the UK sanctions regime.

02 October 2023

Rosneft has asked a Moscow court to block BP from pursuing an international arbitration – with the British company confirming the dispute does not relate to its ongoing effort to divest its stake in the Russian state-controlled entity.

27 September 2023