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Yuri Makhonin
“Rising star in the Russian market”. “A diligent, fierce litigator who is absolutely fantastic in court”.


Clients and the legal press


Yuri is a partner at RGD Dispute Resolution practice, focusing on litigation and arbitration in Russia, including commercial, real estate, construction and corporate disputes, bankruptcy, debt recovery and administrative disputes. Yuri represented major foreign and local clients in more than 400 cases in state arbitrazh, general jurisdiction courts and international arbitration tribunals. Yuri is a member of the Russian national committee of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR and the Committee member of Moscow Commercial Litigators’ Forum. He is included in the lists of recommended arbitrators of the Russian International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (the ICAC), Russian Arbitration Center at Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration.


Background

Prior to joining RGD Yuri worked at the leading Russian and international law firms. During the last ten years Yuri was working at Dechert where he supervised all of the Russian dispute resolution work of its Moscow office for the last 3 years.


Expertise

Primary Practice Focus: Domestic Litigation, International Litigation, Dispute Resolution


Secondary Practice Focus: IP Litigation


Industry Sectors: Energy & Natural Resources, Industry & Transportation, Retail & Real Estate, Fintech & Financial Institutions


Languages: English, Russian

Landmark engagement experience



ARBITRATION


  • Representing a beneficiary of a Russian company in a litigation challenging transactions of its subsidiaries

  • Representing a leading Turkish construction company in regard to US$200 million ICC disputes regarding construction and fit-out works in a business center in Moscow and before the ICAC with regard to the construction of a stadium in Donetsk, Ukraine (amount in dispute is approximately US$100 million)

  • Representing a Russian investment group in connection with considering the expediency and preparing the arbitration proceedings against a Central Asian Republic

  • Defending a metallurgical plant in the arbitration proceedings before the SCC against a Chinese contractor in a dispute valued at US$200 million regarding construction of a rolling mill in Chelyabinsk

  • Advising a Russian oligarch in several US$ multibillion LCIA disputes relating to the construction of a hotel in the Moscow city centre

  • Representing a U.S. investment company in an employment dispute with its former top-manager before the AAA and Russian courts

  • Consulting a group of Eurobond noteholders (the amount of claims worth approximately US$240 million) on a restructuring and potential enforcement proceedings against a Russian leading transportation and logistics company controlling the Commercial Port of Vladivostok following defaults on two Eurobond issues

  • Representing a leading Turkish construction company in the process of seeking injunctions in Russia in aid of the ICC international arbitration proceedings

  • Representing a subsidiary of a world’s leading oil and gas engineering and construction company at the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the RF CCI in a dispute arising out of a failure to perform obligations to supply oil-field equipment as a result of US sanctions against Russia in the oil and gas sector


Restructuring & insolvency


  • Representing a top Greek bank in a number of high-profile disputes before Russian courts with respect to the foreclosure over land plots as well as in subsequent bankruptcy proceedings of Russian subsidiaries of a Greek development conglomerate following a EUR40 million default under Greek law governed facility agreement

  • Representing a major German construction company in dozens of disputes arising out of initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against its subsidiary in Russia and a case for bringing it for secondary liability for subsidiary’s debts

  • Representing a U.S. government corporation in bankruptcy proceedings of top Russian banks – International Industrial Bank and AMT Bank (the amount of claims worth approximately US$200 million)

  • Representing a major German bank in a high profile multi-billion bankruptcy case involving the only steel company in Russia’s Far East, as well as in bankruptcy cases against several Russian banks

  • Representing T Plus in a dispute involving subsidiary liability claims against the persons controlling E4 Group JSC (including Mikhail Abyzov, ex-minister of the Open Government) as part of E4 Group bankruptcy proceedings


LITIGATION


  • Representing a private client in a high-profile criminal investigations in an EU member state, in the course of which unprecedented in scale and media coverage investigative actions were successfully challenged and declared unlawful

  • Representing a private client in administrative proceedings in an EU member state against the claims of the agency responsible for the enforcement of sanctions, which included challenging a series of large-scale and high-profile searches aimed at seizure of assets blocked subject to sanctions

  • Representing a private client in the mutual agreement procedure under a Double Taxation Treaty between the Russian Federation and an EU member state in connection with tax claims totaling more than half a billion euros

  • Representing a leading Turkish construction company in a dispute involving recovery of approximately US$450 million of losses resulting from a fire at the Berezovskaya Power Plant in favor of CHUBB, an insurance company

  • Representing a foreign company in a dispute related to seeking of an asset-freezing order from a Russian court in aid of a litigation in the Nicosia District Court (Republic of Cyprus)

  • Representing several Russian subsidiaries of one of one of the world’s largest FMCG companies in a high-profile insurance dispute resulting from a collapse of a warehouse in the Lipetsk Region (amount in dispute is approximately US$50 million)

  • Advising a UK-headquartered multinational oil and gas company in a number of disputes in Siberia totaling approximately US$500 million against a minority shareholder with respect to control over a major Russian oil company

  • Advising a major German bank in a number of disputes against one of the largest agricultural companies in the CIS and its subsidiaries following a US$300 million default under English law governed facility agreements

  • Representing an owner of a luxurious Swissôtel hotel in a dispute against a minority shareholder resulting from a mandatory tender offer for shares worth over US$180 million

  • Representing a shareholder of a major Russian private energy supply company in a number of disputes with other shareholders over control of the company with an annual turnover of approximately US$8 billion

  • Representing a US shareholder of two Russian cartridge plants in corporate disputes regarding challenge of exclusive distribution agreements and supply agreements regarding the sale of cartridge to the US (amount in dispute is approximately US$400 million)

  • Defending Russian subsidiaries of an Austrian largest retail holding in more than 35 disputes and a number of bankruptcy proceedings, which related to the misappropriation of certain retail assets in more than 30 supermarkets in Moscow and Tula worth tens of millions of dollars and the pledge of those assets to top Russian banks

Education


  • DL (with honours), Moscow State Linguistic University, 2006


Qualification


  • Advocate, 2021

  • Russia, 2006


Recognitions & Awards


  • The Legal 500 EMEA 2012-2013, 2015-2021 – recommended for Litigation in Russia; in 2017-2020 named as a “Next Generation Lawyer”; in 2021 named among "Rising Stars".

  • The Legal 500 "Arbitration Powerlist: CIS and Caucasus" - recommended among the leading arbitration experts of the region in 2020

  • Chambers Global 2016-2019 – recommended for Dispute Resolution

  • Chambers Europe 2016-2019 – recommended for Dispute Resolution

  • The Best Lawyers 2018-2022 – included in the list of recommended lawyers for Arbitration&Mediation, Litigation and Sports Law in Russia

  • Pravo-300 - recommended lawyers in International Litigation, Domestic Dispute Resolution (Major Commercial Disputes – High Market), Bankruptcy (Disputes - High Market)

  • "Kommersant" ranking - ranked among leading individuals in Bankruptcy and Construction & Real Estate

  • 2015-2017 – named one of top ten young arbitration practitioners by the Russian Arbitration Association

"Pravo-300" Ranking
"Kommersant" Ranking
International Experience
Publications and public speaking
September 28, 2021
Language English
“The Possibility of Setting Aside Arbitral Awards in a Country That Was Not the Place of Arbitration”. Chapter included into the book “Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Russia and Former USSR States” published by Wolters Kluwer.
Yuri Makhonin
February 17, 2021
Language English
Leading Arbitration Cases 2020: Different Perspectives. Joint event by ICC Russia and ICC United Kingdom supported by Rybalkin, Gortsunyan and Partners. Co-chairman of the Conference: Dmitry Dyakin.
Dmitry Dyakin | Anthony Walker | Yuri Makhonin
October 9, 2020
Language English
Yuri Makhonin speaks at the session "Arbitration on the doorstep of the 2020s: how far have technological innovations gone and how serious are modern cybersecurity threats" at the GAR Interactive: Moscow
Visit the event website
Yuri Makhonin
September 25, 2020
Language Русский
“COVID-19: impact on foreign trade contracts” webinar. A webinar jointly held with the Russian Export Center Group (REC) as part of the series of online events organized by LF Academy, an innovative educational project of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. Watch the webinar  
Suren Gortsunyan | Ivan Meleshenko | Yuri Makhonin
April 21, 2020
Language Русский
Covid-19: Impact on Foreign Trade Contracts. A webinar by Rybalkin, Gortsunyan & Partners, Russian Export Centre Group and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

Ivan Meleshenko | Yuri Makhonin
Yuri Makhonin
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