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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFormer 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 Dyal\u00e1 Jim\u00e9nez 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share your thoughts in the comments<\/p>\n<\/div>\nDispute concerns Oschadbank assets in four Ukrainian regions<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Chandrachud had earlier declined Russia’s approaches<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n