The former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is selected by the Russian Federation to serve as an arbitrator in an international dispute involving the state-owned Ukrainian bank Oschadbank. The arbitration is about multi-million dollar claims made by Oschadbank against Russia based on the 1998 Russia-Ukraine Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) due to heavy damage to business and properties sustained in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia as a result of full-scale military operations launched by Russia in 2022.
Composition of the panel and appointed tribunal president
The case will be considered by an international arbitration panel of three members comprised in the following manner:
Tribunal president – Dayala Jiménez, former Trade Minister of Costa Rica, jointly appointed by the Russian Federation and Oschadbank;
Claimant arbitrator – Professor Stavros Brekoulakis (National University of Singapore), appointed by Oschadbank; and,
Respondent arbitrator – Former CJI DY Chandrachud, nominated by the Russian Federation.
Previous rejections and refusals
This is the first nomination from Russia accepted by Justice DY Chandrachud. According to reports from the Global Arbitration Review, Justice DY Chandrachud previously refused nominations from Russia in arbitrations of German energy company Wintershall Dea and Ukrainian electricity grid operator Ukrenergo.
In the Wintershall case, Justice Chandrachud was at first appointed by the PCA to be a member of the arbitrating panel. However, he stepped down from his position as he was approached personally by Russia thereafter in seeking his arbitration services.
Institutional implications for Indian lawyers
The appointment of Justice Chandrachud is evidence of the increased involvement of Indian lawyers in international arbitration platforms. Given that he has now retired from his post in the Supreme Court of India in December 2024, his participation in the arbitration process points to an increased demand for non-Western arbitrators in commercial litigation on a state level.
