Former Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, has been appointed as an arbitrator by Russia in an investment treaty dispute raised by Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank. Reports quoting Global Arbitration Review stated that the three-member tribunal will be presided over by Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister Dyalá Jiménez, who was jointly selected by both sides.
The third member is a Greek arbitrator and National University of Singapore professor Stavros Brekoulakis, who was appointed by Oschadbank. The arbitration relates to a 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Ukraine and Russia.
Earlier, former CJI Chandrachud had declined the Russian offer to serve as its arbitrator in treaty claims brought by Wintershall Dea and Ukrenergo.
The Russian offer was made to Chandrachud the day the Permanent Court of Arbitration designated him as the appointing authority in the Wintershall proceedings. However, he later stepped down after accepting the Russian offer.
Oschadbank is represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partners Epaminontas Triantafilou and Alex Gerbi, along with Asters partners Oleksiy Didkovskiy, Andrii Pozhidayev and Oksana Legka. While Russia is being represented by Pinna Goldberg partner Andrea Pinna, counsel Pratyush Panjwani and senior associate Dimitrios Papageorgiou.
The dispute reportedly concerns Oschadbank’s assets and operations in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that it claims it lost following Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, particularly after the full-scale invasion in 2022. The bank’s claims amount to worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Oschadbank served a notice of dispute on Russia in July 2025, which reportedly went unanswered. Subsequently, the bank initiated dispute proceedings.
DY Chandrachud retired as the Chief Justice of India on 10th November 2024. He was elevated as a Judge to the Supreme Court in May 2016.
