“Russian Supreme Court says sanctioned persons may ignore arbitration clauses”

Igor Gorchakov and Andrey Panov of Allen & Overy have this article, available at JD Supra, discussing the Russian Supreme Court’s recent decision in Uraltransmash vs PESA, which, as the article notes, is “of great interest for every party doing business with Russian companies.” As the article explains, finding that “sanctioned persons are free to choose between litigating (or arbitrating) abroad and litigating in Russia,” the court concluded that “the very fact of introduction of sanctions against a Russian person is sufficient to conclude that there are obstacles to access to justice for such a person in a foreign state that introduced such sanctions.” As such, the applicable Russian statute entitles a sanctioned person to “choose whether to pursue the case in a foreign court or arbitration, or to opt for exclusive jurisdiction of the Russian courts.”