The Global South Refuses to Enforce moscow Court Rulings

For years, russia has been building a mechanism to enforce its court rulings abroad. The “lugovoi law” allows russian companies to sue foreign partners in moscow courts even when the contract provided for international arbitration abroad. This mechanism has suffered two significant defeats in Asian jurisdictions, on whose loyalty moscow had counted.

The High Court of Mumbai denied “eurochem”’s request to freeze the assets of the Italian company Tecnimont in India. The company had received a ruling in moscow for 171 billion rubles and set out to enforce it, counting on New Delhi’s pragmatic neutrality. The court reviewed the materials thoroughly and discovered what the claimant had concealed: a valid arbitration agreement with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in London, active participation in the London proceedings until the moment they turned against the russian side, as well as anti-suit injunctions from the English court. The Indian court classified “eurochem”’s conduct without qualification as bad faith. 171 billion rubles of moscow’s “justice” have turned into waste paper.

In parallel, a court at the Dubai International Financial Centre upheld the ban on any legal proceedings in russia against the German company Wintershall Dea. The judge explained succinctly: russia is attempting to undermine the arbitration proceedings by every means at its disposal. The proceedings in moscow must be halted, and previously issued rulings must be revoked. The background is telling: after Wintershall filed a EUR 7.5 billion investment claim in The Hague over the expropriation of assets, the prosecutor general’s office of the rf secured a ban on international proceedings and a fine of the same amount from a moscow court. Dubai responded with a complete ban.

Both decisions confirm one pattern: neutrality in geopolitics does not mean a willingness to become a branch of the russian judiciary. Whatever amount the moscow court awards, outside the rf it is not worth the paper it is printed on.