New Delhi: Russia has chosen former Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to represent it in an international arbitration tribunal that is hearing a dispute brought by Ukrainian state-owned bank Oschadbank, according to a report by the Global Arbitration Review cited by Bar and Bench.
The case pertains to the war between Russia and Ukraine and the claimed impact of military operations on the bank’s operations.
Oschadbank’s has made the claims over its assets and business operations in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. It lost these following Russia’s military actions in Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the bank has said.
The dispute is being heard under the 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Russia and Ukraine. The bank’s claim is understood to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The three-member tribunal will have Costa Rican arbitrator and former trade minister Dyala Jimenez as its president, after being selected jointly by Russia and Oschadbank. Greek arbitrator and National University of Singapore (NUS) professor Stavros Brekoulakis was chosen by Oschadbank, while Chandrachud was appointed by Russia.
The bank initiated the arbitration after Russia allegedly failed to respond to a notice of dispute served by the bank in July 2025.
Chandrachud had reportedly turned down approaches from Russia previously 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 had designated Chandrachud as the appointing authority in the Wintershall proceedings.
He later relinquished that role after disclosing the communications.
The Ukrainian bank has stated that it has suffered the loss of substantial assets and the ability to continue business operations following Russia’s full-scale invasion that began in February 2022.
It bank described these as seized or lost banking assets and investments in the temporarily occupied or affected territories of those four regions, which forced it to suspend operations there.
This is a separate proceeding from Oschadbank’s earlier arbitration against Russia over the expropriation of its assets and Crimean branch following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, in which a tribunal awarded the bank approximately $1.1 billion, later increased with interest.
The bank has publicly noted that it is documenting all losses incurred since 2022 for recovery through this new claim.
These details come primarily from Oschadbank’s own official statements, including its July 2025 Notice of Dispute and April 2026 Notice of Arbitration announcements, and contemporaneous reporting that cites Global Arbitration Review and Bar and Bench.
