Summary

MEMORANDUM ORDER

Petitioners are a group of eleven Ukrainian companies ("the Companies") that owned and operated petrol stations in Crimea. But then the Russian Federation invaded Crimea, declared it part of Russia, and seized their assets. Leveraging the terms of an investment treaty, the Companies obtained an arbitration award of over $34 million against Russia. They asked this Court to confirm the award under an international arbitration treaty. Russia now moves to dismiss, declaring itself immune from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and asserting personal jurisdiction defects. An exception to FSIA immunity applies though, and precedent forecloses Russia's personal jurisdiction arguments. Yet Russia contends that four unrelated appeals could change this outcome, so it requests a stay pending resolution of those cases. The Court is unpersuaded and will thus deny Russia's motions.