Almost two years after retiring as the Chief Justice of India, D. Y. Chandrachud has been appointed as an arbitrator for Russia in a high stakes investment treaty dispute between Russia and Ukrainian-owned Oschadbank.
The dispute stems from Oschadbank’s loss of substantial assets and banking operations across four Ukrainian regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. The state-owned Ukrainian bank filed an investment treaty claim following Russia’s military actions and the occupation of these southern and eastern territories, particularly after the full-scale invasion. The bank states that it lost hundreds of millions of dollars following Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine in 2022.
The three-member tribunal handling the dispute will be presided over by Dyalá Jiménez, a Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister. She was selected by both sides.
While Chandrachud will be representing Russia, the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank has selected Stavros Brekoulakis, a Greek arbitrator and National University of Singapore professor.
In June 2025, Chandrachud was made the appointing authority in German energy group Wintershall Dea’s Energy Charter Treaty case against Russia by the Permanent Court of Arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). However, in August 2025, he resigned after the state admitted approaching him to act as its arbitrator in that case and another brought against it by Ukrainian utility Ukrenergo.
It is important to note that these proceedings are separate from an earlier, distinct arbitration where Oschadbank won a $1.5 billion award against Russia specifically for assets lost during the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
The proceedings were initiated under the 1998 bilateral investment treaty signed between Ukraine and Russia, which was “in pursuance of their intention to create and maintain favourable conditions for mutual investments” and “in the desire to create favourable conditions for the expansion of economic cooperation between the Contracting Parties”.
The financial damages for the seized assets and halted business operations are estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Oschadbank advanced the case to an arbitral tribunal after a formal Notice of Dispute sent to the Russian Federation in July 2025 went unanswered.
According to the bank’s official statement: “On 7 April 2026, Oschadbank formally commenced new international arbitration proceedings against the Russian federation. The dispute arises under the Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian federation on the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments.”
The statement also says: “Oschadbank has suffered the loss of substantial assets and operations in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions due to Russia’s illegal conduct. The Notice of Arbitration sets out extensive breaches by the Russian federation of its obligations under the Treaty, along with violations of fundamental norms of international law.”
