Asters, in cooperation with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sulliva,n is reporting success in the English Court of Appeal in its representation of Ukraine in a USD 3 billion Eurobond dispute with Russia.
Russia’s claim was brought against Ukraine regarding its alleged debt under 3 billion USD bonds purportedly issued by Ukraine in 2013 and 100% taken up by the Russian Federation by The Law Debenture Trust Corporation plc., as trustee under the Eurobonds, acting at Russia’s direction and for its benefit.
According to Asters, ”Ukraine disputed the validity of the loan on various grounds, principally on the grounds of duress arising from Russian threats and aggression, including with regard to Crimea and the eastern Ukraine, leading up to the entry into the loan and beyond. The case raises novel issues concerning the non-justiciability/foreign act of state principle and the capacity of states to contract, and will undoubtedly be the leading English case on the application of those principles in a commercial context.”
Asters reports that Court of Appeal "unanimously overturned the decision of Mr. Justice Blair of the English High Court, and found that Ukraine’s defense of duress is justiciable and should be the subject of a trial. The Court of Appeal also reversed the Judge on Ukraine’s alternative case, and found that if the duress defense were non-justiciable, that would require a stay of the proceedings since the claim could not be fairly adjudicated without considering Ukraine’s defense."
The Court of Appeal granted both parties permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Asters’ team was led by Partner Svitlana Chepurna and included Counsel Oksana Legka and Associates Kateryna Kylyvnyk and Olena Nikolenko, all working under the general direction of the firm's Managing Partner Oleksiy Didkovskiy and Senior Partner Armen Khachaturyan.
