First Arbitration Hearing For Russia’s €200 Billion Claim Against Euroclear To Be Heard In Closed Session

The Moscow Arbitration Court has granted the application of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to consider the regulator’s lawsuit against the Belgian depository Euroclear for €200 billion in a closed court session. The decision was confirmed on Friday (January 16).

A statement issued by the bank read, “The Central Bank of Russia requests to proceed to the consideration of this case in a closed court session due to the fact that the materials that will be presented contain restricted-access information, namely information that can be qualified and is qualified as banking secrecy. Our legal relations with Euroclear are confirmed by primary documentation in the form of SWIFT statements, which are qualified by judicial practice as banking secrecy. Banking secrecy is another secret protected by law as defined by the Russian Arbitration Procedure Code, which allows for a transition to a closed court session. Given the unprecedented amount of the claim, we believe that in this case there are such grounds for moving to a closed court session.” The bank attached materials with judicial practice on closing cases.

Euroclear has insisted that motions and petitions that obstruct the consideration of the case should be considered first. The depository filed two such motions: to leave the case without consideration and to terminate the proceedings.

Euroclear stated “We would still like to consider the motions preventing the case from being heard before opposing the motion to close the proceedings. There is no point in considering the motion if the claim is dismissed or the case is terminated, and there are serious grounds for this, which we would like to present to the court.”

Euroclear said that the motion to close the proceedings was dated December 25, 2025, but was not acted upon until January 7, and due to the Western Christmas and New Year celebrations, needed further time to review the document. The Central Bank of Russia replied that “We consider the arguments that it needs to be reviewed and that additional time is needed to be far-fetched and unprofessional.”

Following the announcement of the court’s decision, Euroclear’s legal representative said that they were not given the opportunity to present counterarguments regarding the closure of the proceedings. The judge responded that she had invited the defendant to express an opinion but that Euroclear missed the deadline to do so.

The Central Bank filed the lawsuit against Euroclear with the Moscow Arbitration Court on December 12, 2025. The lawsuit is related to damages inflicted on the Central Bank of Russia through “the unlawful actions of Euroclear”, as well as the officially announced plans of the European Commission to freeze the Central Bank’s funds indefinitely and plans to use the assets of the Russian regulator for transfer to third parties, the CBR said.

The Central Bank estimates the losses across all asset categories as of December 1, 2025, at €200.1 billion at the official exchange rate on that date. The claims comprise actual damages of €181.5 billion, as well as lost profits/potential income from assets totalling €18.6 billion. This latter figure is the interest earned on the frozen assets that the European Union has instructed Euroclear to send to Ukraine.

The European Union, the United States, and several other countries froze Russia’s international reserves in the spring of 2022 in response to its actions in Ukraine. The sanctions have deprived Russia of access to approximately US$300 billion in reserves. The Central Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina subsequently announced the preparation of lawsuits regarding this matter.

A date for the closed-door hearing between the Central Bank of Russia and Euroclear will be announced shortly.