Agniya Bondarenko

Defending major German banks in disputes against a Gazprom subsidiary relating to the refusal of clients to make payments to the opponent under bank guarantees due to sanctions restrictions. The claimant is currently attempting to recover funds from the clients through a Russian court despite the fact that the guarantees are subject to English law and contain an arbitration clause.

Defending a major U.S. bank in a number of disputes with Russian companies arising out of the blocking of the opponents’ money transfers with a total amount of over $1.5m caused by sanctions. Despite the disputes falling under the jurisdiction of US courts, the claimants applied to Russian courts on the basis of Article 248.1 of the RF Commercial Procedural Code.

Defending Commerzbank in disputes against a large Russian bank and other companies (worth over $500m). The opponents commenced disputes in connection with the freezing of their funds in accounts opened with the National Settlement Depository whose funds were then frozen in a German bank due to European sanctions. The recovery from foreign counterparties of the National Settlement Depository is an innovation for Russian courts, and these disputes are establishing case law for similar cases.

Assistance with preparing an expert report for the BVI court in a dispute initiated by a major Russian bank (the client) against the former owner of the client’s predecessor bank to recover damages caused by the opponent in the amount of more than US$1.9bn. The expert report is required by the client to counter the arguments of the opponent that its notice of the BVI trial is not valid, since it does not comply with the formal procedure of the Hague Convention. Moreover, the opponent is trying to challenge the jurisdiction of the BVI court, since Russian courts are already considering identical cases with the same subject matter and participants. In his conclusion, with the help of the firm’s team Maxim Kulkov examined a set of issues regarding the procedure and terms for serving foreign documents on Russian persons in accordance with the Hague Convention of 1965, the practice of applying the doctrine of effective service by Russian courts, and also compared Russian disputes with the BVI case from the point of view of the principles of res judicata and lis pendens (tools for preventing identical claims), in order to prove the correctness of determining the BVI court as having jurisdiction.

Defending a shareholder and a majority creditor of a large meat processing plant in disputes over the transfer of a share, foreclosure on the share of another shareholder (option and pledge), the recovery of corporate documents and the conduct of an audit.

Advising several Russian UHNWI (Ultra High Net Worth Individual) Family Offices on corporate and tax issues.

Successfully defending a shareholder in the bankruptcy case of a major Russian company in a dispute over subsidiary liability for more than US$90m.