Yesterday, Justice Lewis Stone of the New York Supreme Court issued an order temporarily staying an arbitration proceeding commenced by the President and Fellows of Harvard College against OJSC Surgutneftegaz ("Surgutneftegaz") before the American Arbitration Association (" ??? ").  Harvard's arbitration demand asserted claims against Surgutneftegaz for breach of the Deposit Agreement and the rights of the holders of American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") based on Surgutneftegaz's alleged failure to pay dividends in accordance with its corporate charter.  Surgutneftegaz denies the claims and notes that its longstanding dividend policy has been upheld by the courts of the Russian Federation of all levels, including the highest level, as fully consistent with its charter and applicable Russian law.  Harvard, which purchased its ADRs after these Russian court decisions, inappropriately seeks to relitigate Surgutneftegaz's dividend policy through an arbitration proceeding in the United States .  Surgutneftegaz has moved the New York Supreme Court to stay the arbitration on several grounds, including that the parties never agreed to arbitrate (including before AAA) a dispute over Surgutneftegaz's internal corporate governance and accounting policies, that public policy demands that these issues of Russian law be heard exclusively in the courts of the Russian Federation and that Harvard's US securities laws claims are meritless.  The court's stay will remain in effect until the hearing of Surgut 's motion for a permanent stay of the arbitration which is currently scheduled for September 7, 2004.