Court to continue considering Central Bank of Russia's lawsuit against Euroclear for 200 bln euros in closed session
MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax) - The Moscow Arbitration Court has granted the motion of the Central Bank of Russia to consider the regulator's lawsuit against the Belgian depository Euroclear for 200 billion euros (18.2 trillion rubles) in a closed court session, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"The Central Bank of Russia requests to proceed to the consideration of this case in a closed court session due to the fact that the materials that will be presented (we have prepared a motion for inclusion) contain restricted-access information, namely information that can be qualified and is qualified as banking secrecy. Our legal relations with Euroclear are confirmed by primary documentation in the form of SWIFT statements, which are qualified by judicial practice as banking secrecy. Banking secrecy is another secret protected by law as defined by the Russian Arbitration Procedure Code, which allows for a transition to a closed court session. Given the unprecedented amount of the claim, we believe that in this case there are such grounds for moving to a closed court session," the CBR's representative in court said regarding the Central Bank's position.
The regulator attached materials with judicial practice on closing cases.
Euroclear insisted that motions and petitions that obstruct the consideration of the case should be considered first. The depository filed two such motions: to leave the case without consideration and to terminate the proceedings.
"We would still like to consider the motions preventing the case from being heard before opposing the motion [to close the proceedings]. There is no point in considering the motion if the claim is dismissed or the case is terminated, and there are serious grounds for this, which we would like to present to the court," a Euroclear representative said.
The representative said that the motion to close the proceedings is dated December 25, 2025, though the defendant only received it before Friday's hearing. The representative added that time is needed to review the document.
The plaintiff's representative said that the defendant had received the lawsuit, which also presented the position of the Central Bank of Russia on closing the hearing, on January 7, 2026. "We consider the arguments that it needs to be reviewed and that additional time is needed to be far-fetched and, in this case, unprofessional," the Central Bank representative said.
The court ultimately decided to close the proceedings entirely.
Following the announcement of the court's decision, a Euroclear representative said that he was not given the opportunity to present his counterarguments regarding the closure of the proceedings. The judge responded that she had invited the defendant to express his opinion.
The Central Bank filed the lawsuit against Euroclear with the Moscow Arbitration Court on December 12, 2025. The lawsuit is related to damages inflicted on the Central Bank of Russia through "the unlawful actions of Euroclear," as well as the officially announced plans of the European Commission to freeze the Central Bank's funds indefinitely and plans to use the assets of the Russian regulator for transfer to third parties, the CBR said.
The Central Bank estimates the losses across all asset categories as of December 1, 2025, at 200.1 billion euros or 18.173 trillion rubles at the official exchange rate on that date. The claims comprise actual damages of 181.5 billion euros, as well as lost profits/potential income from assets totaling 18.6 billion euros, a source familiar with the text of the claim told Interfax previously.
The European Union, the United States, and several other countries froze Russia's international reserves in the spring of 2022 in response to its actions in Ukraine. The sanctions have deprived Russia of access to approximately $300 billion in reserves. Central Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina subsequently announced the preparation of lawsuits regarding this matter.
