Between 2015-2019, large-scale arbitration reforms were carried out in Russia. As a result of these reforms, a conservative model of arbitration emerged. Simultaneously, Russian lawmakers rejected the liberal approach to arbitration that had prevailed in Russia for the previous 25 years. This article analyses the reasons and prerequisites for the reform and its consequences. In particular, it investigates the widespread phenomenon which has received the name “pocket arbitration”. The role of the higher state courts that fought against pocket arbitration as well as anti-arbitration judicial practice resulting from the confrontation between the courts and arbitration are noted in this article. Special attention is paid to the ideology of conservative reform and its legal technique. The author assumes that each legal technique can be applied to regulate arbitration even within the framework of a liberal model, but it is their combination that creates a conservative model in the form of an integral regulatory system. The analysis results in the conclusion that an unfavourable atmosphere has been created in Russia for the consideration of disputes through arbitration.