The Moscow Arbitration Court has upheld the Bank of Russia’s claim against the Belgian financial group Euroclear for €200bn (18.2 trillion roubles or roughly $250bn), the largest single damages award to emerge from the Kremlin’s legal counteroffensive against Western sanctions. The decision, handed down in a closed hearing on Friday, covers both the face value of Russian sovereign assets immobilised in the Euroclear system since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the interest income the central bank says it lost by being unable to trade them. Representatives for the depositary told journalists that their clients’ right to a fair trial had been “clearly violated” by the secrecy of the proceedings, and vowed to appeal.

Viewed from Moscow, the judgment is a direct response to the European Union’s decision last December to freeze Russian reserves indefinitely and its earlier consideration of using those funds to back a “reparation loan” for Ukraine. The Russian central bank had filed the suit in late 2025, arguing that Euroclear’s compliance with EU sanctions constituted a wrongful deprivation of property. The court accepted the regulator’s calculation of real damages at €181.4bn and lost profits at €18.6bn, though the decree remains unenforceable in any jurisdiction that recognises the European sanctions regime.

From Brussels and London, the ruling was dismissed as legally meaningless in practical terms. Euroclear issued a statement insisting that its operations and financial position were unaffected by the decision and that it did not recognise the Russian court’s jurisdiction. “The central bank’s claims are without merit,” a spokesperson told AFP, adding that the group would pursue all available appeals. Analysts in Europe note that the frozen assets themselves are held in Euroclear’s accounts in Belgium, well beyond the reach of Russian judicial authority, and that Moscow has no bilateral enforcement treaty with Belgium that could compel payment.

The real significance of the case may be political rather than pecuniary. By issuing an award equivalent to more than a tenth of Russia’s GDP, the Kremlin sends a signal that it will use all available legal tools to escalate the financial dimension of the conflict. Yet the ruling also highlights the asymmetry at play: while Russian courts can issue eye-catching judgments, the $300bn of central bank reserves immobilised in Europe remains inaccessible, and the EU has shown no signs of reconsidering the freeze. The longer these assets stay blocked, the more such symbolic litigation is likely to become a fixture of the broader stand-off between Moscow and the West.