15.12.2025, Moscow.
Russia has demonstrated to the European Union that legal instruments for seizing EU assets in Russia are already prepared, Rossa Primavera News Agency Economical Desk wrote on December 13.
On December 12, the Bank of Russia announced that it is filing a lawsuit against the depository Euroclear with the Moscow Arbitration Court. The case concerns an attempt to formally record, within the legal framework, the damage inflicted on the Russian regulator as a result of the blocking of its assets and the inability to dispose of securities held within the infrastructure of the European depository.
The Bank of Russia’s intention to file a claim against Euroclear with the Moscow Arbitration Court is not merely a legal step, but an important political and economic signal addressed primarily to the European Union and, to an even greater extent, to Belgium.
Formally, the lawsuit concerns losses arising from the actions of Euroclear. In essence, however, it is directly linked to the mechanisms currently being discussed within the EU for the use or outright confiscation of Russian state assets that were frozen after the start of the special military operation.
Euroclear operates under Belgian jurisdiction, and Belgium today holds one of the most restrained positions within the EU on the issue of expropriating Russian assets. This is explained not only by legal risks (as confiscation of Russian assets would further undermine the already shaken trust in the existing financial system), but also by very tangible considerations: assets belonging to Belgian entities and private owners are frozen in Russia. In the event of further escalation, Euroclear itself could lose client assets in Russia amounting to approximately €16 billion.
Russia has previously warned that it would take retaliatory measures if its assets were seized, and with this lawsuit Moscow is now actively demonstrating to Belgium and other countries — importantly, at a time of intense debate on the issue — that a response will inevitably follow and that the legal instruments for such a response are already in place.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
