High Court Judgment in Russia Immunity Application

On Friday 2 May, the High Court handed down judgment in JSC DTEK Krymenergo v The Russian Federation, in which Russia has asserted immunity from jurisdiction in response to an application for the enforcement in England of a US$300 million investment treaty award.

Russia sought a stay of its immunity application pending the outcome of set-aside proceedings at the curial seat of the arbitration, The Hague. That application was resisted by JSC DTEK which asked the Court either to reject it outright, or to condition any stay on the payment of security in the amount of the underlying award pursuant to the Court’s case management powers. Russia argued that the Court would have no jurisdiction to do so.

Dame Clare Moulder DBE granted Russia a stay and rejected the application for security on the basis that the Court lacked jurisdiction to grant it prior to determining Russia’s immunity application.

Mark Wassouf acted for Russia, led by Vernon Flynn KC (Brick Court). They were instructed by Curtis Mallet-Prevost.

This is the second judgment in which the question of whether to grant a stay and/or security pending the conclusion of foreign set-aside proceedings has been considered by the English court in circumstances where there is an extant assertion of immunity by a state. The first was Henshaw J’s judgment in Hulley v Russia [2021] EWHC 894 (Comm), in which Mark also acted for Russia in its successful application to continue a stay and its resistance to an application for security, in that case made pursuant to s.103 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (Mark acted, in that case, alongside Cameron Miles and was led by Christopher Harris KC).

The judgment is available here.