Russia has put forward former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud as its nominee arbitrator in a treaty dispute filed against it by Oschadbank, Ukraine's state-owned bank. The tribunal's presiding arbitrator will be Dyalá Jiménez, a Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister, chosen jointly by both parties. Filling the third seat, on Oschadbank's nomination, is Stavros Brekoulakis who is a Greek arbitrator and teaches at the National University of Singapore.
How the claim arose
The proceedings rest on the 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Ukraine and Russia. Oschadbank's case is built around assets and business it says it lost in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as a consequence of Russian military action in Ukraine, in particular following the 2022 full-scale invasion. Reports value the claim in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The bank moved to arbitration after Russia allegedly failed to respond to a notice of dispute it had been served in July 2025.
A seat Chandrachud has turned down before
This isn't the first time Chandrachud has been asked. He previously declined similar Russian approaches to arbitrate in claims filed by Wintershall Dea and by Ukrenergo. They have approached notably on the very same day when the Permanent Court of Arbitration had confirmed him as appointing authority for the Wintershall case. Once he disclosed that contact, he withdrew from the appointing-authority role altogether.
Counsel on record
Acting for Oschadbank are Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partners Epaminontas Triantafilou and Alex Gerbi, working alongside Asters partners Oleksiy Didkovskiy, Andrii Pozhidayev and Oksana Legka. Representing Russia are Pinna Goldberg partner Andrea Pinna, counsel Pratyush Panjwani and senior associate Dimitrios Papageorgiou.