Russia loses the EU file aimed at unlocking 70 billion euros in sanctions

Russia’s National Regulatory Deposit has lost its bid to overturn European Union sanctions over its alleged role in helping finance President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Moscow-based institution was hit by EU sanctions in 2022 when the bloc alleged that, as the main custodian of Russian securities, the body allowed the Russian government to mobilize its resources to support the war effort.

NSD “failed to demonstrate” that the EU “erred in finding that that enterprise was a systemically important financial institution that played a key role in the functioning of Russia’s financial system,” the EU judges ruled. The decision can be appealed to the bloc’s highest court – the European Court of Justice.

The depository currently has about 70 billion euros ($77.3 billion) tied up at Euroclear, Belgium’s clearing house, according to a person familiar with the matter.

These assets are not currently being used to generate windfalls transferred as financial support to Ukraine, but the ruling could pave the way for their use and create additional belated income, as the EU has done with Russian central bank assets, the person added. who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

A spokesman for Euroclear confirmed that the extraordinary contribution for Ukraine comes from the assets of the Russian central bank from February 15, 2024.

Euroclear made a first payment of 1.55 billion euros. The clearinghouse holds €173 billion of sanctioned Russian assets, including non-current assets of its central bank. The spokesman declined to comment on the figures attributed to NSD.

Copyright 2024 Bloomberg.

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