Russian court seizes Deutsche Bank's assets amid legal dispute over EU sanctions compliance
Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region has seized assets, accounts, and securities of Deutsche Bank and its subsidiaries in Russia, amounting to €238.61 million, following a claim by Ruskhimalyans.
Ruskhimalyans, a company established by Gazprom and Rusgazdobycha, operates the gas processing and liquefaction project in Ust-Luga. Deutsche Bank served as one of the guarantors for the Ruskhimalyans contract alongside Turkish Renaissance Heavy Industries and German Linde for the construction of a plant in Ust-Luga.
Months after the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, Linde opted to cease its operations in Russia and informed Ruskhimalyans about halting work due to European sanctions which banned the export of dual-use goods to Russia.
German banks, including Deutsche Bank, found themselves unable to fulfil their guarantor obligations to Ruskhimalyans because of the EU-imposed sanctions.
Subsequently, the company filed lawsuits against Linde, and banks including Unicredit Bank AG, Bayrische Landesbank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg.
In December 2022, the arbitration court in St. Petersburg seized Linde's assets in Russia valued at 35 billion rubles.
On Friday, May 17, Russian news agencies noted that the same court had seized assets, accounts, and securities of UniCredit Bank and UniCredit Bank AG, totalling €462.67 million, due to a claim from Ruskhimalyans.
In late April, Financial Times (FT) reported that major western banks paid €800 million in taxes in Russia for 2023 , a figure four times higher than the pre-war level.
Deutsche Bank is among the top seven western banks regarding assets in Russia.
However, as stated by its representatives to the FT, the bank has significantly reduced its presence in Russia.