After the Exit: Russian Bankruptcy Proceedings as a New Front in Cross-Border Enforcement Against Western Corporate Groups

The panel will examine a significant post-2022 development in cross-border disputes: the use of Russian bankruptcy proceedings to pursue claims against foreign parent companies, group entities, management, and assets outside Russia. Recent Russian practice has developed along two principal tracks: first, the bankruptcy of former Russian subsidiaries used as a platform for clawback and subsidiary-liability claims; and secondly, the more direct use of bankruptcy proceedings against foreign companies themselves, including through the jurisdictional approach associated with the Westwalk decision. The practical importance of this development lies in the fact that insolvency measures may travel more easily across borders than sanctions-related judgments, and may therefore present a more serious enforcement risk for companies that considered their Russian exit complete.

The Russian side of the panel would explain the legal architecture of these proceedings, including the use of COMI-style reasoning, secondary proceedings against Russian asset pools, clawback claims, and “controlling person” liability. The panel would then turn to the response in England and other key jurisdictions: recognition and public policy objections, jurisdictional challenges, anti-suit or anti-enforcement tools, declaratory relief, and practical steps that companies should take now to protect assets, management, and reputation. The session would therefore bring together claimant-side and defence-side perspectives on one of the most important emerging enforcement risks in the Russia-related disputes.