Russia Appoints Former CJI D.Y. Chandrachud As Arbitrator In Investment Treaty Dispute With Ukrainian Bank

Former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud has been appointed by Russia as its arbitrator in a new investment treaty dispute brought by Ukrainian state-owned bank Oschadbank over assets and operations it says it lost in south-eastern Ukraine.

According to a report published by Global Arbitration Review (GAR) on August 7, 2026, the dispute will be heard by a three-member tribunal under the 1998 Ukraine-Russia bilateral investment treaty. The tribunal will be presided over by Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister Dyalá Jiménez, who was jointly selected by both sides.

Oschadbank has appointed Greek arbitrator and National University of Singapore professor Stavros Brekoulakis, while Russia has appointed Chandrachud.

The claim concerns Oschadbank's substantial assets and operations in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, which the bank says it lost since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and especially following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. GAR reported that the claim is understood to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The proceedings follow a notice of dispute served on Russia in July 2025, which allegedly went unanswered.

The new arbitration is Oschadbank's second treaty claim against Russia. The bank had earlier pursued Russia over losses in Crimea following Russia's annexation of the territory in 2014.

In 2018, a Paris-seated tribunal constituted under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules awarded Oschadbank approximately US$1.1 billion. With interest, the amount subsequently rose to around US$1.3 billion.

The award has since been the subject of prolonged proceedings before the French courts. It was set aside in 2021 after a French court accepted Russia's argument that the bilateral investment treaty's offer to arbitrate applied only to investments made after Oschadbank's Crimean branch had opened. The French Court of Cassation reinstated the award in 2022 on the basis that the relevant provision could not be reviewed by the French courts.

After the award, the tribunal issued two further decisions in 2023 and 2024 rejecting Russia's request to revise the award based on new evidence and ordering Russia to bear the costs of the revision proceedings.

The dispute took another turn when the Paris Court of Appeal recently annulled the tribunal's decision on Russia's revision request and a related costs decision. The court found that an amicus curiae brief co-signed by arbitrator Charles Brower created reasonable doubts about his impartiality.

Russia's request to revise the 2018 award therefore remains undecided and must be adjudicated afresh by an arbitral tribunal. Russia has applied to the Permanent Court of Arbitration to resume the revision proceedings and appointed Georges Affaki as its arbitrator. Oschadbank has yet to appoint its arbitrator.

Chandrachud's appointment is also notable because of his earlier involvement in Russia-related treaty arbitrations.

GAR reported that Russia had approached Chandrachud in 2025 to act as its arbitrator in cases brought by German energy group Wintershall Dea and Ukrainian energy company Ukrenergo, following the resignation of Russia's previous appointee, Hamid Gharavi.

Chandrachud declined to act as Russia's arbitrator in either case. On the same day he was approached, the Permanent Court of Arbitration appointed him as the appointing authority in the Wintershall arbitration, responsible for selecting Gharavi's successor among other tasks. Chandrachud later stepped down from that role after disclosing his communications with Russia.

GAR also reported that Oschadbank CEO Sergii Naumov had estimated the total negative impact of Russia's invasion on the bank at around US$460 million, including around US$379 million in distinguishable direct losses.

The new arbitration comes as Oschadbank continues efforts to enforce its earlier award against Russia in multiple jurisdictions.

GAR reported that the bank has enforcement proceedings in the US, UK, Finland and the Czech Republic, with discovery proceedings also underway in New York.

Oschadbank is represented in the arbitration by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, through partners Epaminontas Triantafilou and Alex Gerbi in London, along with Asters, through partners Oleksiy Didkovskiy, Andrii Pozhidayev and Oksana Legka in Kyiv.

Russia is represented by Pinna Goldberg, through partner Andrea Pinna, counsel Pratyush Panjwani and senior associate Dimitrios Papageorgiou in Paris.