Key takeaways

• For a long time there has been no detailed regulation of the jurisdictional immunities of foreign states in Russian law, but in addition to providing for the concept of functional immunity it also envisaged the application of absolute immunity;
• The new law borrows the basic provisions of the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, adopted on December 2, 2004, and, in particular, applies the principle of functional immunity to all types of court proceedings in Russia;
• The law also introduces the concept that all jurisdictional immunities of a foreign state may be restricted on the basis of the reciprocity principle.