{"id":17040,"date":"2026-04-21T18:45:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/?p=17040"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:45:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:45:54","slug":"sanctioned-investor-targets-canada-via-moldova-bit-over-ukraine-related-asset-freeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2026\/04\/21\/sanctioned-investor-targets-canada-via-moldova-bit-over-ukraine-related-asset-freeze\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanctioned Investor Targets Canada via Moldova BIT Over Ukraine-Related Asset Freeze"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Igor Makarov, a billionaire holding Moldovan and Cypriot nationality, has filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.international.gc.ca\/trade-commerce\/trade_topics-domaines_commerce\/igor-makarov.aspx?lang=eng\">USD 350 million <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips18'>ICSID<\/span> claim<\/a> against Canada under the Canada\u2013Moldova <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips63'>BIT<\/span>. The claim challenges the freezing of his assets under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.international.gc.ca\/world-monde\/international_relations-relations_internationales\/sanctions\/russia-russie.aspx?lang=eng\">Canada&#8217;s Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations<\/a>, alleging unlawful expropriation and breach of fair and equitable treatment. This is <a href=\"https:\/\/globalarbitrationreview.com\/article\/canada-faces-icsid-claim-over-russia-sanctions\">one<\/a> of the first major <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips43'>ISDS<\/span> challenges to modern sanctions frameworks. It forces tribunals to decide whether national security and foreign-policy determinations should override treaty-protected property rights. A ruling for the investor could significantly increase litigation exposure for states aligning their sanctions policies with international allies, chilling the use of asset-freeze measures as an instrument of collective security. The case intersects with issues analysed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/articles\/deep-dive\/investment-treaties-times-of-war-russia-ukraine\"><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips32'>IISD<\/span> paper on sanctions and investment treaties<\/a>, which warned that BITs concluded before Russia&#8217;s 2022 invasion create latent litigation exposure for sanction-aligned states.<\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips18','International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips43','investor\u2013state dispute settlement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips58','soluci\u00f3n de controversias inversionista-Estado'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips65','East African community'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips104','responsabilit\u00e9 sociale des entreprises'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Igor Makarov, a billionaire holding Moldovan and Cypriot nationality, has filed a USD 350 million <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips18'>ICSID<\/span> claim against Canada under the Canada\u2013Moldova <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips63'>BIT<\/span>.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips18','International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":17193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1900],"class_list":["post-17040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-current-issue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17041,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17040\/revisions\/17041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}