The only salvation of the entrepreneur is the presence of extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances that prevented the fulfillment of the contract, or, in other words, force majeure (paragraph 3 of Article 401 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
However, the definition of force majeure in the Civil Code goes rather backwards, listing the things that do not exactly belong to this concept, such as breach of obligations on the part of the debtor’s counterparties, absence of goods required for fulfillment on the market, absence of necessary funds on the debtor’s part.
The Russian Supreme Court also adheres to the same position, stating in its ruling of August 20, 2018 N 307-ES18-11373 that «unavoidable circumstances may include the introduction by a foreign state of prohibitions and restrictions in the field of entrepreneurial activity, as well as other restrictive and prohibitive measures applicable to the Russian Federation or Russian business entities, if such measures affected the fulfillment of obligations by the said persons».
Judicial practice currently assumes that the imposition of sanctions against Russia is a well-known fact, and therefore it is not necessary to prove it.
It seems that, based on the above explanations, the issue of sanctions can be considered resolved. Sanctions are recognized as force majeure, and in order to successfully resolve the case, the party invoking them only needs to prove that it was the sanctions restrictions that actually prevented the fulfillment of the obligation.
However, there are many positive examples of court decisions based on this position — as examples we can point to the rulings of the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal of March 29, 2023 N 09AP-6095/23 or the Thirteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal of April 17, 2023 N 13AP-42773/22.