An important ruling has emerged in the cases filed in Russia over assets frozen by Western sanctions. The Moscow Arbitration Court ordered Belgian financial giant Euroclear to pay $194.2 million in damages to the Russian special-purpose financial company Silicium-2.
According to RIA Novosti, Silicium-2 had filed a lawsuit against Euroclear in May 2025 for 32.8 billion rubles ($417.5 million). By October, the company's claim for compensation had risen to $2.2 billion. In its final ruling, the court granted part of this demand.
Legal battle triggered by sanctions
At the heart of the dispute are assets of Russian investors held through the Russian Central Depository (NSD). NSD’s accounts with Euroclear were blocked after the institution was added to the EU sanctions list in 2022. This ruling by the Moscow court could provide a legal basis for the seizure of Euroclear’s assets in Russia or Moscow-friendly countries.
More than a hundred lawsuits against Euroclear
Russian investors and companies are waging a broad legal campaign against Euroclear to recover assets frozen abroad. According to Kommersant newspaper, the number of lawsuits filed against Euroclear has exceeded 100. Total claims for compensation have reached 200 billion rubles (approximately $2.5 billion).
Euroclear holds a significant portion of the roughly €300 billion ($342 billion) in Russian state assets frozen in the West. The Belgian group previously dismissed as “unfounded” a $231.26 billion lawsuit brought against it by the Central Bank of Russia and filed a counterclaim in the Brussels commercial court. The company argues that only Belgian courts have jurisdiction over matters concerning its operations.
