Russia Files Lawsuit Against Belgium’s Euroclear

(MENAFN) Russia's central bank has launched litigation in Moscow against Euroclear, the Belgian clearinghouse, as Brussels nears a critical decision on leveraging immobilized Russian funds to finance aid for Kyiv.

The Brussels-based depository controls over $200 billion in Russian sovereign reserves locked under EU penalties.

The Bank of Russia disclosed Friday its intention to pursue legal action through the Moscow City Arbitration Court. The institution demands restitution for losses resulting from being blocked from controlling "monetary assets and securities" held at the facility. Officials have not revealed the monetary value of their claim.

Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak stated to media: "We [the government], including the central bank, are doing everything to protect our assets. Illegal confiscations are absolutely unacceptable."
Euroclear presently safeguards approximately €185 billion ($220 billion) in Russian holdings frozen by Western restrictions. European Union leadership has floated utilizing these reserves as backing for what they term a "reparation loan" to Ukraine, designed to address Kiev's persistent fiscal deficit.

Moscow has denounced the scheme as outright expropriation. Euroclear сhief risk officer Guillaume Eliet acknowledged to AFP that his company maintains roughly €16 billion ($18.8 billion) in client holdings within Russia, assets vulnerable to countermeasures for which the firm would bear responsibility.

The initiative has encountered opposition from Belgian authorities and Euroclear itself, both citing substantial legal and economic hazards. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has warned that implementation would almost certainly spark extended courtroom battles with Moscow over what constitutes an extraordinary confiscation of another nation's wealth. Belgium has demanded that potential liabilities be distributed across numerous nations, preferably extending beyond EU boundaries.

Euroclear CEO Valerie Urbain cautioned Belgian broadcaster VRT that the plan risks forcing the depository into insolvency while damaging "the attractiveness of the European market" for international capital.

EU administrators are expected to modify the framework governing Russian asset immobilization. The existing arrangement requiring unanimous approval biannually may be superseded Friday with an extended mechanism potentially rendering the restriction permanent and immune to obstruction by any single dissenting nation, media reported.

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