Court upholds Central Bank of Russia's claim for 200 bln euros against Euroclear in full - Euroclear lawyers
MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - The Moscow Arbitration Court has upheld the Central Bank of Russia's claim against the Belgian depository Euroclear in full, Euroclear lawyers Maxim Kulkov and Sergei Savelyev told reporters.
"Euroclear's right to fair litigation was clearly violated. We cannot reveal any additional information given the closed nature of the proceedings, which we objected to," Savelyev said, adding that the claims were granted in full.
According to the court information, the case was assigned to a new judge: Nadezhda Bushmarina presided over Friday's hearing instead of Anna Petrukhina.
The Central Bank is happy with the ruling, its press office told reporters. "We're satisfied with the ruling, which deemed the Euroclear depository's actions to be illegal and have inflicted losses on the Bank of Russia," it said.
It said the ruling had not yet entered into force, so it was too soon to say by what means the claim would be satisfied. "It should be borne in mind that the final text of the ruling decision has not yet been drafted and the ruling has not yet gone into effect, and Euroclear has the right to file an appeal and challenge it. It too soon to discuss how the court's decision will be enforced, because it has not yet gone into effect," the Central Bank said.
The Central Bank also said it continued to challenge what it described at the European Union's illegal actions with respect to its assets. On February 27, 2026, the Central Bank filed an appeal with the General Court of the European Union against the EU Council regulation imposing an indefinite freeze on the Central Bank's assets. "The case is pending, and the EU Court has ordered the respondent (the EU Council) to submit its position by the end of May," the Central Bank said.
The Central Bank filed the lawsuit against Euroclear with the Moscow Arbitration Court on December 12, 2025, seeking compensation for losses amounting to 200.1 billion euros (18.173 trillion rubles). 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 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 EU, the United States and a number of other countries froze Russia's international reserves in the spring of 2022 in response to its military operation in Ukraine. The sanctions deprived Russia of access to about $300 billion in reserves. After this, Nabiullina said that lawsuits were being prepared in response to this.
The Central Bank filed a challenge in the General Court of the European Union on February 27 against the December 2025 EU Council regulation that imposed an indefinite freeze on its assets.
