Wintershall Dea seeks compensation for Russia’s 2022 to 2023 presidential decrees that stripped it of its Siberian gas joint ventures with Gazprom. Russia responded in the Moscow Arbitrazh Court with anti-arbitration injunctions and penalties of about €7.5B each against the claimant, its counsel and the arbitrators, plus a suit seeking a lifetime ban on arbitrator Charles Poncet. The tribunal and the DIFC courts have issued anti-anti-suit injunctions ordering Russia to stop.
LATEST DEVELOPMENT · JUN 4, 2026
On 20 February 2026, the appointing authority dismissed Russia’s third challenge to the whole tribunal. In April 2026, the tribunal enjoined the Moscow suit to ban Poncet, and on 4 June 2026 Justice Sir Jeremy Cooke of the DIFC court issued a penal injunction enforcing the tribunal’s orders against Russia.
BACKGROUND
Wintershall Dea, the German oil and gas group formed by the 2019 merger of Wintershall and DEA, held long-standing joint ventures with Gazprom developing gas fields in Western Siberia, including the Achimgaz and Achim Development projects. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Wintershall Dea announced it would wind down its Russian business and stop financing new projects there. Between late 2022 and 2023 the Russian government issued presidential decrees that transferred Wintershall Dea’s stakes in these joint ventures to Russian state-controlled entities without what the company regards as adequate compensation.
Wintershall Dea responded by filing treaty claims against Russia, invoking the Energy Charter Treaty and the Germany-Russia bilateral investment treaty, in a PCA-administered arbitration seated in the DIFC in Dubai. Russia has fought the case not on the merits but by attacking the arbitration itself, obtaining orders from the Moscow Arbitrazh Court that purport to ban the proceedings and impose penalties of roughly €7.5B each on Wintershall Dea, its counsel and the individual arbitrators, alongside a separate Moscow suit seeking to permanently disqualify arbitrator Charles Poncet.
The tribunal and the DIFC courts, as courts of the seat, have pushed back with anti-anti-suit and penal injunctions ordering Russia to halt the Moscow proceedings and desist from enforcing the penalties. Justice Sir Jeremy Cooke of the DIFC Court of First Instance has taken the lead role on the DIFC side, declining to recuse himself despite Russian objections and later issuing a penal injunction against Russia to enforce the tribunal’s own orders.
The case is still active. Russia’s repeated challenges to individual arbitrators and to the tribunal as a whole have been rejected, most recently by the appointing authority in February 2026, and the parallel Moscow and Dubai proceedings continue to run on separate, colliding tracks with no merits decision yet in sight.
TIMELINE
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JUN 4, 2026ENFORCEMENTDIFC court issues penal injunction against RussiaJustice Sir Jeremy Cooke of the DIFC Court of First Instance grants Wintershall Dea’s request for a penal injunction enforcing orders already made by the arbitral tribunal against Russia.
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APR 2026PROCEDURALTribunal enjoins Russia’s Moscow suit to ban PoncetThe tribunal issues an order blocking the Russian suit seeking to have Charles Poncet permanently banned as an arbitrator.
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MAR 16, 2026FILINGRussia seeks lifetime ban on arbitrator PoncetRussia brings a Moscow court suit seeking to permanently disqualify tribunal member Charles Poncet from acting as an arbitrator.
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FEB 20, 2026PROCEDURALAppointing authority dismisses Russia’s challenge to the entire tribunalThe appointing authority rejects Russia’s bid to remove all members of the arbitral tribunal, the third such challenge Russia has brought.
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DEC 5, 2025PROCEDURALJustice Sir Jeremy Cooke declines to recuse himselfJustice Sir Jeremy Cooke of the DIFC Court of First Instance rejects Russia’s application for him to step aside from hearing the case.
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NOV 20, 2025ENFORCEMENTMoscow court orders recovery of €7.5B from Wintershall DeaThe Moscow Commercial Court upholds Russia’s application and orders recovery of the €7.5B penalty despite the tribunal’s contrary order.
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OCT 22, 2025PROCEDURALTribunal orders Russia to terminate the Moscow anti-arbitration proceedingsThe arbitral tribunal directs Russia to terminate the Moscow anti-arbitration proceedings and to refrain from seeking enforcement of the Moscow injunction.
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SEP 8, 2025JUDGMENTMoscow Commercial Court issues €7.5B penalty judgmentThe Moscow Arbitrazh Court hands down a judgment imposing penalties of roughly €7.5B each on Wintershall Dea, its counsel and the arbitrators if the PCA arbitration continues.
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MAY 27, 2025PROCEDURALMoscow court targets foreign arbitrators, the PCA and claimant’s law firmReports emerge that the Russian Arbitrazh Court in Moscow has taken action directly against the foreign arbitrators, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and a law firm involved in the case.
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MAY 20, 2025PROCEDURALRussia challenges arbitrators Adekoya and PoncetRussia files a challenge in the arbitration seeking to remove tribunal members Olufunke Adekoya and Charles Poncet.
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SEP 30, 2024FILINGWintershall Dea announces initiation of two arbitration proceedings against RussiaWintershall Dea issues a press release confirming it has commenced two treaty arbitrations against the Russian Federation over the loss of its Siberian gas joint venture interests.
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MAR 2023OTHERWintershall Dea confirms exit from RussiaWintershall Dea publicly confirms it is exiting Russia after losing its Siberian joint venture interests to state decrees.
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DEC 2022OTHERRussia moves to seize Wintershall Dea’s Gazprom joint venture stakesFollowing Wintershall Dea’s announcement that it would exit Russia and stop funding new projects after the invasion of Ukraine, Russian presidential decrees begin transferring its stakes in Siberian gas joint ventures with Gazprom to Russian-controlled entities.