Former chief justice of India D Y Chandrachud has been appointed by Russia as its arbitrator in an investment treaty dispute filed by Ukrainian state-owned bank Oschadbank, according to a report by Global Arbitration Review, as cited by Bar and Bench.The dispute is being heard by a three-member arbitral tribunal under the 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Ukraine and Russia.Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister Dyalá Jiménez will serve as the tribunal’s president after being jointly selected by both parties.Greek arbitrator and National University of Singapore professor Stavros Brekoulakis was appointed by Oschadbank, while Justice Chandrachud was appointed by Russia.
Dispute concerns Oschadbank assets in four Ukrainian regions
Oschadbank’s claim concerns assets and operations in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that the Ukrainian state-owned bank says it lost following Russian military actions in Ukraine, particularly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.The claim is understood to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. According to Bar and Bench, Oschadbank initiated the arbitration after serving Russia with a notice of dispute in July 2025, which allegedly went unanswered.The proceedings have been initiated under the 1998 Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the Encouragement and Mutual Protection of Investments.The dispute is separate from an earlier Oschadbank arbitration concerning its operations and assets in Crimea following Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula.In that earlier case, a tribunal constituted under the Permanent Court of Arbitration found Russia liable for unlawful expropriation and awarded Oschadbank approximately $1.1 billion in damages, along with interest and arbitration costs.Russia had declined to participate in those proceedings, but the tribunal proceeded under the applicable arbitration rules.
Chandrachud had earlier declined Russia’s approaches
Justice Chandrachud had previously declined approaches from Russia to serve as its arbitrator in treaty disputes involving German energy company Wintershall Dea and Ukrainian state energy company Ukrenergo.He had also been designated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration as the appointing authority in the Wintershall proceedings. He later stepped down from that role after disclosing the communications from Russia.His appointment as Russia’s arbitrator in the Oschadbank case therefore marks a change from his earlier decision not to accept Russia’s approaches in those proceedings.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
Three-member tribunal to hear the case
Jiménez, who was jointly selected by Oschadbank and Russia, will preside over the tribunal. Brekoulakis was appointed by Oschadbank, while Justice Chandrachud was appointed by Russia.Oschadbank is represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partners Epaminontas Triantafilou and Alex Gerbi, along with Asters partners Oleksiy Didkovskiy, Andrii Pozhidayev and Oksana Legka.Russia is represented by Pinna Goldberg partner Andrea Pinna, counsel Pratyush Panjwani and senior associate Dimitrios Papageorgiou.The case comes against the broader backdrop of investment disputes arising from Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and the resulting loss of Ukrainian businesses and assets in territories under Russian control.
