A St. Petersburg court ruled on May 31 to ease restrictions imposed on Italy’s UniCredit bank as part of the lawsuit.
In mid-May, the St. Petersburg Arbitration Court ruled that 462.7 million euros ($503 million) of the bank’s assets must be seized. On May 31, the court said UniCredit could offer its holdings of Russian government bonds in lieu of assets to satisfy the seizure order.
UniCredit is one of the largest European banks still operating in Russia. It was facing litigation related to a gas project with Russian state energy giant Gazprom that was halted due to Western sanctions imposed after Russia began its all-out war with Ukraine.
“This is considered to be proportionate to the amount claimed, taking into account that bond prices fluctuate periodically due to the influence of various external market factors.” The court May 31st.
Reuters reported that UniCredit did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
Reuters reported in April, citing sources, that UniCredit was expected to be ordered by the European Central Bank to scale back its operations in Russia.
Sources told Reuters that UniCredit expects to receive a legally binding order from the ECB to scale back its Russian operations, giving the company a chance to act on its own before further enforcement measures, which could include sanctions, are taken.
Reuters reported that neither the ECB nor UniCredit responded to requests for comment.
The bank’s Russian subsidiary reported a profit of 890 million euros ($950 million) in 2023, compared with 210 million euros ($224 million) in 2021, even as UniCredit’s CEO said the bank was working to scale back its Russian operations.
G7, EU want to target banks that help Russia evade sanctions, Bloomberg reports
Allies in particular are considering measures against banks that use SPFS, Russia’s alternative to the SWIFT messaging system, to circumvent trade restrictions, the media reported.
