Russia has appointed former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud as its arbitrator in an international investment treaty dispute involving Ukraine’s state-owned Oschadbank.
The dispute centres on Oschadbank’s claims over assets and business operations in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which the bank says it lost following Russian military actions, particularly after the full-scale invasion in 2022. The claim is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The case is being heard by a three-member arbitral tribunal under the 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Russia and Ukraine. Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister Dyalá Jiménez will serve as the tribunal’s president, while Greek arbitrator and National University of Singapore professor Stavros Brekoulakis has been appointed by Oschadbank. Chandrachud has been appointed by Russia as its party-appointed arbitrator.
The appointment places a former Indian CJI in a high-stakes international arbitration involving banking assets, investment claims and the wider economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also highlights the growing role of international arbitration in resolving disputes involving businesses and financial assets affected by geopolitical conflicts.
The proceedings are significant not only from a legal perspective but also for the international business and investment landscape, as disputes over assets affected by the Russia-Ukraine war continue to move into international arbitration forums.
