The freezing of hundreds of billions of dollars in lenders’ assets was part of the dispute over a gas project halted by sanctions.
A Russian court ordered the seizure of assets, accounts, property and shares of German Bank and Commerzbank in the country in a lawsuit involving the German banks, according to court documents.
Banks are among the guarantor lenders in a contract to build a gas processing plant in Russia with German company Linde. The project was halted due to Western sanctions.
European banks largely left Russia after Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine in 2022.
A St. Petersburg court ruled in favor of seizing 239 million euros ($260 million) from Deutsche Bank, according to documents dated May 16.
Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt said it had already set aside about 260 million euros ($283 million) for the deal.
“We will have to see how this assertion is implemented by Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia,” the bank added in a statement.
The court also seized assets of Commerzbank, another German financial institution, worth 93.7 million euros ($101.85 million), as well as securities and the bank’s building at the center from Moscow.
The bank has not yet commented on the matter.
In a parallel trial on Friday, the Russian court also ordered the seizure of UniCredit’s assets, accounts and property, as well as the shares of two subsidiaries. The decision covered 462.7 million euros ($503 million) in assets.
UniCredit said it “has been informed” of the decision and is “reviewing” the situation in detail. The bank was one of the most exposed European banks when Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, with a large local subsidiary operating in Russia.
It began preliminary discussions for a sale last year, but the talks did not move forward. Chief Executive Andrea Orcel said UniCredit wanted to leave Russia, but added that offering a deal worth three billion euros ($3.3 billion) was not a good way to meet the spirit of Western sanctions against Moscow due to the conflict.
Russia has been facing heavy Western sanctions, particularly on its banking sector, since the start of the crisis. war in Ukraine. Dozens of American and European companies have also ceased operations in the country.
