Russia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (the "New York Convention") and so, in theory, enforcement of international arbitration awards against Russian parties in the Russian Courts should be a relatively straightforward affair. However, a number of recent Court decisions, as well as comments made by certain leading judges in the Russian commercial (arbitrazhny) Courts may undermine confidence in the application of the spirit of the New York Convention.
The legal position
Under the terms of Article V of the New York Convention (which is repeated in Russian domestic legislation by Article 36 of the 1993 Law on International Commercial Arbitration), Russia is obliged to recognise and enforce foreign arbitral awards unless one or more grounds apply from a list of seven. (Russia elected, within the terms of the New York Convention, to treat "foreign awards" as meaning awards issued in other New York
