The Russian court of St. Petersburg seized the assets of three European banks — UniCredit, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank — worth more than €700 million.
This is reported by the Financial Times with reference to court documents.
The assets of German Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank were seized — €238.6 million and almost €94 million, respectively. And also the Italian UniCredit — €463 million.
The lawsuits against the banks were filed by Ruskhimalyans, a subsidiary of Gazprom and RusGazDobychi, which in 2021 ordered the German company Linde to design and build a gas processing plant in the Leningrad region. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, UniCredit and two other banks became guarantors in the deal.
In 2023, Rushimalians appealed to the arbitration court in St. Petersburg with a demand to pay bank guarantees under the contract with Linde, which suspended work with the Russian Federation due to EU sanctions.
Then Rushimalians turned to the guarantor banks, which also refused to fulfill their obligations due to European sanctions.
The Italian UniCredit is one of the largest European lenders in Russia, where more than 3,000 people work through its subsidiary. In May, the bank reported that its Russian business made a net profit of €213 million in the first quarter, compared with €99 million a year earlier.
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