Russia holds hearing in $232 billion case over frozen assets in EU

MOSCOW (AFP) — A Moscow court Friday held a preliminary hearing in a lawsuit brought by the Russian central bank against Belgian financial group Euroclear over the fate of Russia’s blocked assets in Europe.

The EU froze tens of billions of euros of Russia’s international reserves after the Kremlin launched its full-scale offensive on Ukraine almost four years ago, part of sweeping sanctions aimed at hindering Moscow’s war machine.

During the hearing, Judge Anna Petrukhina ruled that the proceedings would be held behind closed doors, at the request of the bank, which sought to “protect banking secrecy,” AFP journalists reported from the Moscow Arbitration Court.

The next hearing is set for March 4, a source close to the case told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

The lawsuit was filed in December as the European Union was debating using the frozen Russian funds to offer a financial lifeline to Ukraine — but the bloc failed to approve the scheme, ultimately opting for a loan backed by its common budget instead.

Filing the case, the central bank said Euroclear had acted illegally in freezing the assets.

It is seeking around $232 billion, a sum it says covers the assets and compensation for lost returns.

It was unclear what the implications of any Russian-based legal claim would be.

Lawyers representing Euroclear were present in court, an AFP reporter saw, but declined to comment on the case.

A spokesman for the clearing house noted in December that Euroclear was “fighting more than 100 legal claims in Russia.”

Russian private investors, some of whom have also been caught up in the freeze on foreign securities, were hoping to join the central bank’s case against Euroclear.

One of them, Alexander Polyakov who was present at the hearing, said he had lost nearly 130,000 euros ($150,000) — “enough to build a house in the Moscow region, for example. That’s what I was investing for,” he told AFP.

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By Agence France-Presse