Russia appoints former CJI DY Chandrachud as arbitrator for legal battle with Ukrainian bank

Former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will represent Russia in an international arbitration tribunal hearing a dispute brought by Ukrainian state-owned bank Oschadbank, according to a report by Global Arbitration Review cited by Bar and Bench. The case relates to the war between Russia and Ukraine and the claimed impact of military operations on the bank's business.

The dispute concerns Oschadbank's claim over assets and business operations in Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The bank has said it lost these after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the claim is understood to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Bar and Bench reported that the matter is being heard under the 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Russia and Ukraine. The three-member tribunal will be led by Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister Dyala Jimenez, who was jointly selected by Russia and Oschadbank. Greek arbitrator and National University of Singapore professor Stavros Brekoulakis was chosen by Oschadbank as the third member, while Chandrachud has been appointed by Russia.

Oschadbank initiated the arbitration after Russia allegedly failed to respond to a notice of dispute served by the bank in July 2025. Chandrachud's appointment comes after he had reportedly declined earlier approaches from Russia to serve as its arbitrator in treaty disputes involving Wintershall Dea, a gas and oil production company, and Ukrenergo, a state-owned power transmission firm. Those approaches were reportedly made on the same day that the Permanent Court of Arbitration designated Chandrachud as the appointing authority in the Wintershall proceedings. He later gave up that role after disclosing the communications.

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Oschadbank has said it suffered the loss of substantial assets and the inability to continue business operations following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. The bank described these as seized or lost banking assets and investments in the temporarily occupied or affected territories of the four regions, which forced it to suspend operations there.

The present case is separate from Oschadbank's earlier arbitration against Russia over the expropriation of its assets and Crimean branch after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, in which a tribunal awarded the bank about $1.1 billion, later increased with interest. Oschadbank has also said publicly that it is documenting all losses incurred since 2022 for recovery through this new claim. These details come mainly from the bank's official statements, including its July 2025 Notice of Dispute and April 2026 Notice of Arbitration announcements, as well as contemporaneous reporting cited by Global Arbitration Review and Bar and Bench.

Chandrachud's appointment places him on a three-member tribunal that will hear Oschadbank's claim over losses in four Ukrainian regions under the 1998 Russia-Ukraine investment treaty, in a separate proceeding from the bank's earlier Crimea-related arbitration.