I am happy to announce the launch of Usoskin Arbitration – an independent legal practice of Sergey Usoskin FCIArb - a Russian advocate focusing on international arbitration, cross-border disputes and public international law. Usoskin Arbitration will be the continuation of my work at Double Bridge Law and will offer clients the same advantages – few conflicts, tailor-made teams and personal approach. Depending on the requirements of the specific case I will continue to partner with law firms and practitioners in the respective jurisdictions where necessary to achieve the best results for the clients. Over the past few years I have been increasingly active as an arbitrator and expert on Russian law and look forward to expanding these areas of my practice further. Please do not hesitate to contact me at su@usoskinarbitration.com if you have any questions. See more

In early December 2021 the Russian Supreme Court will hear a case addressing the reach of the Russian law that seeks to provide additional guarantees to Russian persons affected by foreign economic sanctions and restrictions. In summary, under the law the affected persons, in certain circumstances, benefit from the rights to resort to Russian courts to resolve their disputes with foreign counterparties as well as to seek, in effect, anti-suit injunctions restraining such counterparties from pursuing proceedings abroad. The issue before the Supreme Court is whether these remedies are available to the Russian parties (i) only where the economic sanctions introduced in the respective State, in effect, deny the Russian party access to court (e.g. where it is unable to retain counsel), or (ii) where the respective State has introduced any economic sanctions against the relevant Russian party. In Uraltransmash v PESA Bygdoszcz the respondent, a Polish producer of tram cars agreed to design and supply tram cars to the claimant, with the contract providing that any disputes between the parties to be resolved by a tribunal seated in Stockholm under the SCC Rules. PESA commenced arbitration claiming that the buyer violated the contract. The claimant is subject to EU ‘sectoral’ sanctions that prohibit provision of certain types of... See more

At the meeting held virtually on 1 November 2021 the Advisory Board discussed, inter alia, the amended curriculum of the LLM program, employment opportunities for the program’s graduates and research projects undertaken by the master students. Saint Petersburg State University’s two-year Master in Public International Law was launched in 2019 and offers a unique curriculum comprising courses in advanced public international law and various specialist courses in human rights, international investment and trade law, international law of the sea and others. The Advisory Board of the Program includes Professors Andrea Bjorklund (McGill University), Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou (University of Liverpool), Judge Roman Kolodkin (ITLOS), Ms Ananstasia Kushleyko (ICRC), Ms Victoria Manko (International and Comparative Law Research Center), Ms Elina Morozova (Intersputnik) and Mr Vladimir Talanov (Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners). Sergey Usoskin serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board of the program and co-teaches ‘International Law in Practice‘ course. See more