The Singapore International Commercial Court (“SICC”) has confirmed Russia cannot rely on sovereign immunity to resist enforcement of the Yukos arbitration awards in Singapore. The ruling in Hulley Enterprises Ltd and others v The Russian Federation [2025] SGHC(I) 19 underscores the significant role of transnational issue estoppel in investment treaty arbitration.
The claimants, shareholders in Yukos, sought to enforce arbitral awards worth more than USD 50 billion, arising under the Energy Charter Treaty. Russia argued it was immune under Singapore’s State Immunity Act and that the arbitration exception did not apply, as it had never consented to arbitration. These arguments had already been rejected by both the arbitral tribunal and the Dutch courts, as the courts of the seat.
The SICC, following the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision in Republic of India v Deutsche Telekom AG [2023] SGCA(I) 10, held that transnational issue estoppel applied to prevent Russia from re-litigating points conclusively decided by the Dutch courts. The court also rejected Russia’s contention that applying issue estoppel would expand jurisdiction or breach international law obligations, confirming estoppel is a matter of Singapore’s domestic procedural law.
This decision highlights the importance of the seat of courts in non-ICSID investment treaty arbitrations and the binding effect of their judgments in enforcement proceedings. Similar reasoning has also been adopted by the English Court of Appeal, which barred Russia from re-arguing its immunity defence in related proceedings.
Case: Hulley Enterprises Ltd v The Russian Federation [2025] SGHC(I) 19 (25 July 2025) (Andre Maniam J, James Allsop and Anthony Meagher IJJ).