Artur Zurabian | A commentary for Kommersant: There’s no place to be at law like home

The Economic Collegium of the Russian Federation Supreme Court (SC) has for the first time received a case on a new norm allowing sanctioned persons to have their dispute transferred from abroad to Russia. The decision will be made on the complaint of Uraltransmash, which insists on the prohibition of proceedings with the Polish PESA Bydgoszcz in Stockholm.

For example, Tsargrad Media of Konstantin Malofeev (the businessman is under US sanctions) referred in its dispute with Google (over the blocking and removal of the account of the Tsargrad TV channel from Youtube) to the fact that the British company Steptoe & Johnson refused to provide it with legal assistance without special permission from US and UK government agencies. In April, the Moscow Arbitration Court accepted jurisdiction over the case. Arthur Zurabyan, ART DE LEX Partner (represents Tsargrad in the case against Google) believes that the fact of the inclusion of a person in the sanctions list is “fundamental and self-sufficient” to give rise to «doubts about the fair consideration of the dispute in a country, which recognizes the sanctions». In his opinion, the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of Uraltransmash will simplify the task of the lower instances and jurisdictional disputes will not take up time: «Given that a significant number of Russian corporations are under certain sanctions, the number of such disputes will only grow».