Available in Russian
Author: Iliya Rachkov
Keywords: application of international law by national courts; bilateral investment treaties; foreign investments; standards of treatment of foreign investors
Russia concluded almost 80 bilateral investment treaties (BITs). However, in 1992–2015 Russian courts (primarily arbitrazh court, but also the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court) applied only 11 BITs in 22 judgments. These examples show that both the parties to disputes and the courts did not discover the potential of BITs as an instrument of protection of foreign investments on the national level. Although Russian BITs are quite laconic, even such laconic provisions of BITs allow foreign investors to successfully protect their rights when the national law of the state hosting foreign investments does not allow to do so.
About the author: Ilya V. Rachkov – Associate Professor, International Law Faculty, MGIMO (University), Moscow, Russia.