Russian Court Freezes 680 Billion Won of Italian Bank Assets in Russia

Russian Court Freezes 680 Billion Won in Assets of Italy's UniCredit Bank

Russian authorities have frozen the assets of Italy's major bank UniCredit within the country, according to major foreign media reports on the 17th (local time).

According to the reports, on the same day, the Arbitration Court of Saint Petersburg, Russia, froze UniCredit's local assets in Russia, including securities, real estate, and accounts worth 462.7 million euros (681.7 billion KRW). A freeze order was also issued on 100% of the shares of UniCredit's Russian subsidiaries, UniCredit Leasing and UniCredit Garant.

UniCredit Bank Logo

This measure follows a lawsuit filed last year by Ruskhimalyans, a subsidiary 50% owned by the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom, against UniCredit for 1 billion euros (1.4033 trillion KRW). The lawsuit was filed against the bank that provided guarantees after the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at the Ust-Luga port on the Baltic Sea coast, being built together with Germany's industrial gas company Linde, was halted due to Western sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

According to the contract at the time, in case of disputes, the matter was to be handled by the Paris Arbitration Court in France under UK law; however, major foreign media reported that the Russian court ignored this jurisdiction clause and proceeded with the hearing.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB), concerned about Russia's retaliatory measures in response to Western sanctions, is demanding that Eurozone banks (20 countries using the euro) operating in Russia submit withdrawal plans. UniCredit is reported to have been required to provide detailed operational plans to the ECB by June 1.