In this case the court of first instance and the cassation court rejected the enforcement of an arbitral award issued by the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce. In the award the tribunal had ordered one of the parties (the respondent) to pay the other party (the claimant) a fee for providing agency services and compensation for costs relating to work performed by third parties. One of the related contracts, submitted by the claimant, was in English. The respondent, who had not signed the contract, requested that the proceedings be suspended pending the translation of the contract. The tribunal rejected this request. The court of first instance and the cassation court held that this constituted a valid ground to reject the enforcement of the award.

The Supreme Commercial Court concurred with the lower courts' decision that the refusal to suspend proceedings in this case amounted to a breach of the principle of equal treatment of the parties because the respondent was effectively deprived of the opportunity to fully present its case.