In this case, the Ukrainian organic producer initiated London arbitration with the claim to recover the debt for the delivered goods. On behalf of the buyers, AGA Partners disputed this claim on both substantive and procedural grounds.  

 In particular, our position was that the seller’s claim shall be deemed barred due to its failure to timely pay the arbitration deposit. In response, the seller’s counsel argued that their client was prevented from transferring the funds to the UK arbitral institution by Ukrainian martial law.  

To resolve this alleged problem, the arbitral institution exceptionally allowed the seller to pay the arbitration deposit to the bank account of the Ukrainian entity. Nonetheless, the seller did not pay the arbitration deposit. 

As a result, the sole arbitrator upheld our objections and declared the seller’s claim barred. 

This dispute was handled by partner Ivan Kasynyuk and senior associate Pavlo Lebediev.