Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister Dyalá Jiménez, who was jointly selected by both sides, will lead the three-member tribunal, a report by Global Arbitration Review stated.

Greek arbitrator Stavros Brekoulakis, professor at the National University of Singapore, is the third member of the tribunal and was appointed by Oschadbank.

The proceedings have been initiated under a 1998 bilateral investment treaty signed between Ukraine and Russia.

What is the case?

Oschadbank’s claim concerns assets and operations in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that it says it lost following Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, particularly after the full-scale invasion in 2022.

The claim by Oschadbank is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The proceedings were initiated by Oschadbank after it served a notice of dispute to Russia in July last year, which allegedly went unanswered.

Chandrachud’s earlier links to Russia’s arbitration cases

Chandrachud had previously declined approaches from Russia to serve as its arbitrator in treaty disputes involving German energy company Wintershall Dea and Ukrainian state energy company Ukrenergo.

The approaches were reportedly made on the same day that the Permanent Court of Arbitration designated him as the appointing authority in the Wintershall proceedings. He later stepped down from that role after disclosing the communications from Russia.