A Moscow court has commenced proceedings in a significant lawsuit filed by Russia’s central bank against Euroclear, the Brussels-based clearing house. The legal action seeks to recover a staggering 18.2 trillion rubles ($232 billion) in damages.
The central bank claims these losses arose after Russia was blocked from managing and disposing of its funds and securities held by Euroclear. The case is currently being heard behind closed doors.
This legal challenge comes as the European Union has frozen €210 billion ($244 billion) worth of Russian assets, part of sanctions imposed on Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Euroclear is understood to hold approximately €193 billion of these seized funds.
Moscow’s Arbitration Court picked up the case even though the EU last month set aside its initial plan to use frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine after failing to convince Belgium that it would be protected from Russia’s retaliation. The bloc opted instead for borrowing 90 billion euros on capital markers to provide an interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.
Participants gather in Moscow’s Arbitration Court to hold a hearing to consider a lawsuit by Russia’s Central Bank against Belgium-based financial clearinghouse Euroclear in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)Russia’s Central Bank has condemned the use of frozen assets to aid Ukraine as “illegal, contrary to international law,” arguing that they violated “the principles of sovereign immunity of assets.”
Meanwhile Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said on Sunday that talks with U.S. officials on a resolution of the nearly four-year-old war with Russia would continue at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.
“We agreed to continue work at the team level during the next phase of consultations in Davos,” Umerov said after two days of talks in Florida with officials, including envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Umerov said discussions had focused on security guarantees and a post-war economic recovery plan for Ukraine, but gave no indication any agreements had been achieved.
