Russian Central Bank demands more than $229 billion in compensation from Euroclear
The Central Bank of Russia has filed a lawsuit against the Belgian depository Euroclear demanding to recover 18.2 trillion rubles, which is equivalent to about $229 billion. It is reported by The Public with reference to DW.
The Bank of Russia claims that Euroclear's actions allegedly caused financial damage due to the inability to dispose of frozen funds and securities. Separately, the Russian side is challenging the European Union's intention to use the profits from the frozen assets to support Ukraine.
Analysts note that the Russian court is likely to quickly rule in favour of the Central Bank of Russia. In the future, Moscow may try to enforce it in other jurisdictions, but the prospects for such a step remain doubtful.
The European Commission called the lawsuit speculative and legally unfounded. European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Valdis Dombrovskis stressed that Russian assets are not being confiscated, and the proposed mechanism for their use is fully in line with EU law and international norms, including the principle of sovereign immunity.
On 12 December, the EU Council adopted an urgent decision prohibiting any return to Russia of the assets of its Central Bank frozen after the start of a full-scale war against Ukraine. The EU acknowledges that it had expected such judicial steps from Moscow as an attempt to put pressure and delay the process of compensation for the damage caused by the war.
