Russian Central Bank sues Euroclear

The Central Bank of Russia announced this Friday that it has filed a lawsuit against the Euroclear depositary with the Moscow Arbitration Court. The measure is adopted due to the “illegal actions” of the organization, which are causing losses to the Russian Central Bank. As another cause, the direct or indirect use of the assets of the Central Bank of Russia without its consent is mentioned, which is being officially examined by the European Commission. In relation to this, the bank plans to take measures to recover the losses. “The actions of the Euroclear depository have caused damage, by preventing the use of funds and securities belonging to the Bank of Russia,” indicates the press office statement. It should be noted that approximately 185 billion euros (216 billion dollars) from the Central Bank are currently in the hands of Euroclear. Russia warns of consequences of “theft” of its assets

Since February 2022, several Western countries (U.S., EU nations and the UK, among others) have frozen more than 300 billion dollars in Russian state assets. In September, the European Commission proposed to grant Ukraine a “repair loan” of 140 billion euros (162 billion dollars) financed with the frozen Russian assets.

Last week, the European Commission presented two multiannual financing schemes for Ukraine: debt issuance on the markets guaranteed by the European Union budget and a “repair loan” backed by Russian sovereign assets frozen in the community territory. The bloc’s leaders will decide later this month whether to use Russian reserves or funds from European taxpayers.