SergeI Bakeshin has assessed for Novy Prospect the impact of sanctions, businesses leaving Russia and the end of the bankruptcy moratorium on the number of disputes

Novy Prospect online publishing has pointed out that the Commercial Court of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region is now hearing several disputes related to the imposed sanctions and the withdrawal of foreign companies from Russia. In particular, Severstal is suing Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant for more than RUB 2 billion in debt. The plant had been in a forced downtime for two months due to a shortage of imported components. In addition to this, in August Baltiysky Zavod plant filed a claim for the return of over RUB 400 million as an advance payment from Wartsila, the Finnish engine manufacturer,  for the supply of equipment for ice breakers, which the Russian company has not received.

However, according to Sergei Bakeshin, Senior Associate and Head of Dispute Resolution & Insolvency practice at Maxima Legal, the number of such disputes cannot yet be called dramatic.

“The economic turbulence has generated new legal disputes: with foreign companies leaving Russia, with banks hit by sanctions, with firms that failed to rebuild their supply chains. But I cannot say that the total number of court disputes is enormous. On the one hand, the weakest companies left the market already during the coronavirus crisis. On the other hand, the freezing of economic activity leads to a certain reduction in the number of usually arising disputes,” the expert explained specially for Novy Prospect. At the same time Sergei recalled the end of the moratorium on bankruptcy which may result in a wave of insolvency cases.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Novy Prospect website >>>