WHEREAS the Kingdom of the Netherlands (“the Netherlands”) commenced this arbitration on 4 October 2013 by submitting to the Russian Federation (“Russia”) a Notification and Statement of Claim and the Grounds on Which it is Based; 

WHEREAS in accordance with Article 3 of Annex VII to the Convention, an Arbitral Tribunal composed of Mr. Henry Burmester, Professor Alfred Soons, Professor Janusz Symonides, Dr. Alberto Székely and Judge Thomas Mensah (President) was constituted; 

WHEREAS Article 20(3) of the Rules of Procedure adopted by the Arbitral Tribunal provides that “[t]he Arbitral Tribunal shall rule on any plea concerning its jurisdiction as a preliminary question, unless the Arbitral Tribunal determines, after seeking the views of the Parties, that the objection to its jurisdiction does not possess an exclusively preliminary character, in which case it shall rule on such plea in conjunction with the merits”; 

WHEREAS by Note Verbale dated 22 October 2013 addressed to the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow, Russia made the following statements: