Prohibition on the recognition and enforcement of Russian court rulings issued based on Article 248 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. Regulation No. 833/2024 was supplemented by Article 11c, providing that no injunction, order or judgement of Russian courts issued based on Article 248 of Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation or equivalent Russian legislation will have any legal effect or be enforceable in the EU. Similarly, no rulings on imposing any liability, including criminal liability for the failure to comply with such rulings, will be enforceable in the EU.
The preamble to Regulation 2024/3192, which introduces the changes described above, explains that this measure is primarily aimed at combating anti-suit injunctions issued by Russian courts. However, the new rules do not refer to Article 248.2 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, pursuant to which Russian courts issue their injunctions; the Regulation refers only to Article 248 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, which has nothing to do with the anti-suit injunctions. There is also no reference to another procedural counter-sanction norm of Article 248.1 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.
However, we believe that this is only a defect of the legislative technique, which will not become an obstacle for the denial to recognize Russian court rulings issued based on Article 248.2 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (along with those based on Article 248.1) in the EU.
New mechanism for release of frozen cash balances of Russian entities. Article 6b of Regulation No 269/2014 was supplemented by paragraph 5j, which establishes that European CSDs will be able to request the competent authorities to unfreeze cash balances of designated Russian entities held by such CSDs. This right arises if the funds were seized on their accounts with the relevant Russian financial institutions on the basis of a Russian regulation or a Russian court decision against the will of the CSD.
Both mechanisms can hardly be treated as a novelty; the European authorities have previously released frozen cash balances of sanctioned Russian persons on various grounds, and rulings of Russian courts based on Articles 248.1 and 248.2 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation have not been enforced in Europe. However, the new sanctions regulations will certainly need to be taken into account by designated Russian persons that apply to Russian courts for anti-suit injunctions or seek reimbursement from European depositories, such as Euroclear and Clearstream, in Russian courts.