Russia plans to sue to regain access to $300 billion in frozen foreign currency reserves
- Russia plans to file lawsuits over the freezing of its foreign currency reserves by Western nations, Interfax reported Tuesday.
- Russia's central bank governor didn't specify who Moscow would sue to regain access to $300 billion in reserves.
Russia plans to file lawsuits to claw back access to its foreign currency reserves, according to a report Tuesday, a potential move spurred by Western nations cutting off Moscow from the money for its invasion of Ukraine.
"Of course, this is an unprecedented freeze, so we will be preparing lawsuits, and we are preparing to apply them, as this is unprecedented on a global scale," said Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of Russia's central bank, according to Russian independent news agency Interfax.
Nabiullina didn't give any details or a timeframe, including against whom Russia would seek legal action, according to the Financial Times. Last month, Russia's finance minister said about $300 billion in reserves were inaccessible.
The US and European countries froze about half of all Russian currency reserves, valued at $640 billion, in the wake of Russia launching war against Ukraine on February 24. Russia's ability to take part in the global financial system has also been stifled by the ban of some Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system that's used for international money transfers.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last month said freezing its stockpile of assets was an act of unexpected "thievery" by Western nations.