Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-18T20:15:02.193Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Russian Economic Sanctions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2023

William E. Butler
William E. Butler*
Affiliation:
John Edward Fowler Distinguished Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson Law; Emeritus Professor of Comparative Law, University College London, United Kingdom.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Over the years, Soviet and post-Soviet Russian legal practice has responded to foreign and international economic sanctions reactively. As a rule, Russia has not initiated economic sanctions as an assertive measure against other countries, will apply sanctions authorized by an international organization of which it is a member and for which sanctions it has voted, and retaliates almost reflexively against economic sanctions imposed by others specifically against Russia, seemingly with little regard for the self-imposed consequences of its actions. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation authorizes (Article 1194), as did its predecessor the 1964 Civil Code of the RSFSR, the introduction of retaliatory measures (retorsion) in response to similar measures against Russian citizens and juridical persons in other states.

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , June 2023 , pp. 528 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ENDNOTES

1 Butler, William E. (ed. & transl.), Civil Code of the Russian Federation (2022), II, p. 736.

2 “Insuperable force” means “extraordinary and unavertable circumstances under the particular conditions.” Article 401(3), Civil Code, in Butler, id., I, p. 337.

3 For an excellent account, see O.V. Fonotova & M.D. Ukolova, “The Impact of Foreign Economic Sanctions on Commercial Contracts”, Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета [Herald of St. Petersburg University], XIII, no. 4 (2022), p. 966. See also A.I. Goriacheva, “Modification or Termination of Contracts Due to International Economic Sanctions from the Standpoint of Russian Legislation and Court Practice”, id., XIII, no. 4 (2022), pp. 877–895.

4 Butler, supra note 1, arts. 416(1) and 417, Civil Code, I, p. 342.

5 Fonotova, supra note 3, p. 966.

6 Id.

7 See Butler, Russian Law and Legal Institutions (3d ed., 2021); Jane Henderson, The Constitution of the Russian Federation (2d ed., 2022).

8 In a decision of December 12, 2022, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation determined that a Decree No. 311 of the Government of the Russian Federation prohibiting the export of specified goods and services was constitutional and did not violate the procedure or authority of the relevant Russian authorities power to adopt that decree. The complaint was brought by a Russian company whose business involving medical products was adversely affected by the ban.