Moscow seeks damages after plan to freeze Russian assets

Russia's centralbankis seeking $230bn in damages from Euroclear, as the Kremlin fired a warning shot against the use of Russian frozen assets to aid Ukraine.

- Jennifer Rankin BRUSSELS

The Russian central bank said on Monday that it was claiming 18 trillion roubles, according to local state media reports about the case launched last week.

EU leaders were expected to decide this week whether to use €210bn ($247bn) in Russian frozen assets to provide Ukraine with a loan to fund its defence and keep the economy afloat. Most of the assets, €185bn, are held at the Euroclear central securities depository in Brussels, which is the keeper of most of the Kremlin's immobilised money.

EU officials have argued that the plan is legally sound because Russia remains the owner of its sovereign wealth, which was frozen in European jurisdictions days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But the plan has been blocked by Belgium, which fears a cascade of lawsuits from Moscow and the seizure of Belgian assets in the country.