Contract
Law Debenture Trust Corporation plc v Ukraine (represented by the Minister of Finance of Ukraine acting upon the instructions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine) [2023] UKSC 11, [2023] All ER (D) 41 (Mar)
The Supreme Court ruled on an appeal which arose out of a contractual dispute between Ukraine and the Law Debenture Trust Corporation plc (the trustee of notes Ukraine had issued to Russia), acting on behalf of Russia, concerning the repayment of what was, in substance, a loan of $3bn by Russia to Ukraine. The majority of the court, in dismissing the trustee’s appeal for different reasons to those of the lower court, held that the trustee was not entitled to summary judgment, and that Ukraine should be permitted to defend the claim on the ground of duress, to the extent that it was based on duress of the person or of goods resulting from the alleged threatened use of force, subject to the amendment of its pleadings so as to clarify that that was the basis of its defence of duress. Further, the court dismissed Ukraine’s appeal,
