Introduction

This expert opinion focuses on the question if there is "direct consent" by Russia, primarily out of Art. 8 (2), in connection with Art. 10, Art. 4 (5) and the Preamble of the Russian Foreign Investment Law. The opinion first presents general features of the Russian legal system as it works in practice (and not only in black-letter fashion) after the legislative reforms that took place in the 1990s. The unanimous view of all authoritative and independent observers (OECD, World Bank, EU, US government) was that while the system may look fine on paper, it did not work ...