This introductory chapter provides a background to arbitration in Russia. The history of arbitration in Russia can be traced back to the seventeenth century. In 1831, the Statute on Arbitration was enacted. In this Statute, there were two different systems of arbitration: statutory arbitration and voluntary arbitration. Statutory arbitration was not based upon the parties’ free will. This was a system in which parties were mandated to choose arbitration because of the overloaded court docket. Voluntary arbitration, on the other hand, was based upon the agreement of the parties. Statutory arbitration was abolished by the Great Judicial Reform of 1864 and only voluntary arbitration remained in the Rules of Civil Procedure. However, after the Bolshevik Revolution, all laws of the Tsarist regime, including the Rules on the Civil Procedure, were abolished. Nevertheless, the decree on the court No. 1 of 1917 accommodated arbitration as a means of settling civil law disputes. There was no commercial arbitration under socialism, except for two institutions attached to All-Union Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The chapter then looks at arbitration after the collapse of socialism. After decades of confusion, as an outcome of the 2015 Arbitral Reform, relevant laws were substantially amended and a licensing system was introduced for arbitral institutions.