This book provides the first comprehensive introduction to Russian private international law (PIL) for the foreign lawyer.

The book carefully examines the applicable conflict of law and jurisdictional rules on the basis of the relevant statutory provisions, case law, and doctrinal writings developed in Russia for the purposes of dealing with cross-border commercial issues. It covers topics that will be of particular interest to comparative scholars, for instance the sources of PIL in Russia, including international conventions and treaties; party autonomy and the choice of law by the parties; determination of applicable law in the absence of choice by the parties; public policy exceptions and overriding mandatory provisions; and many more. These and other topics serve as an entry point to the hybrid system of law that Russian PIL is: modelled on European law but characterised by its Soviet past.