A Moscow court has issued a ruling requiring Euroclear, a Brussels-based financial clearing house, to compensate Russia’s central bank for frozen assets, according to Russian media reports released Friday.
The legal action demanded 18.2 trillion rubles, equivalent to $249.7 billion, in compensation for damages Russia claims it suffered when prevented from accessing and controlling its funds and securities held by Euroclear.
Legal representatives for Euroclear, attorneys Maxim Kulkov and Sergei Savelyev, told Russian news organization RBC on Friday that Moscow’s Arbitration Court granted the central bank’s request completely during proceedings conducted without public access.
The defense team contended that Euroclear was denied proper legal proceedings, with Savelyev stating the company plans to challenge the verdict. A spokesperson for the central bank expressed approval of the court’s ruling to RBC.
European Union authorities immobilized Russian financial holdings valued at 210 billion euros ($244 billion) through sanctions implemented following Moscow’s military action in Ukraine beginning in February 2022. Euroclear maintains custody of approximately 193 billion euros from these frozen funds.
The central bank initiated this legal challenge in December 2025. Moscow’s Arbitration Court accepted jurisdiction over the matter despite the EU abandoning its original strategy to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine after Belgium refused guarantees of protection from Russian retaliation.
Instead, the European Union chose to secure 90 billion euros through capital market borrowing to extend an interest-free loan supporting Ukraine’s defense and economic requirements over a two-year period.
Russia’s central bank has denounced any utilization of the frozen assets for Ukrainian assistance as “illegal, contrary to international law,” claiming such actions breach “the principles of sovereign immunity of assets.”
