Anna Grishchenkova, FBK Legal Corporate and M&A Practice Manager on enforcement of foreign court decisions

Anna Grishchenkova, FBK Legal corporate and M&A Practice Manager, in her interview to RBC daily commented on the news that the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation sustained the claim on enforcing decision of Stockholm Arbitration Court to charge Baltiyskiy Zavod OJSC over 21 million EUR and 1 million SEK of losses and legal expenses in favor of a Swedish company Stena RoRo AB. The main point that the court was to respond was whether a Russian strategic company was able not to enforce the decision of a foreign arbitration court referring to it as a threat to sovereignty of Russia. As experts note, Mr. Anton Ivanov, the chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court, sent a positive signal to the international community: Russia respects and enforces decisions of foreign courts and this cannot but improve the investment climate. “Not so many cases concerning the enforcement of foreign court decisions are filed to the Supreme Arbitration Court, that is why every order thereof is as good as gold”, Anna Grishchenkova noted. According to her opinion, the Supreme Arbitration Court supported the Swedes because another decision would have considerably damaged the authority of Russian judicial system before the international community.