In a statement Tuesday, the Bank of Russia blasted the EU’s “unlawful actions against the Bank of Russia’s sovereign assets,” saying the regulation violates “the basic and inalienable rights to access justice” and the “principle of sovereign immunity of states and their central banks.”
The central bank also argued the Council of the EU committed “serious violations” of its own procedures by adopting the measure by qualified majority rather than unanimity.
A Commission spokesperson said it was “fully confident about the legality of this regulation and its compatibility with EU law and international law.”
“This claim comes in the context of a growing number of Russian legal challenges concerning our support measures for Ukraine, therefore we’re of course not surprised,” the spokesperson said.
Russia’s central bank filed a separate lawsuit in Moscow last year against Brussels-based financial depository Euroclear, where the bulk of its assets lie immobilized under EU sanctions after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
This article has been updated.