Russia freezes assets of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank

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Abroad consequences of the sanctions

Russia confiscates assets of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank

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Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank headquarters

Source: picture alliance/dpa/Boris Roessler

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At the request of a Gazprom subsidiary, a St. Petersburg arbitration court froze the accounts, real estate and securities of several banks in Russia, including Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. The background is the collapsed construction of an LNG terminal.

DRussian justice has ordered the seizure of assets of several major European banks, including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Italy’s UniCredit. The measure comes at the request of a Gazprom subsidiary. The reason is the failed construction of an LNG terminal in East Luga due to Western sanctions, for which the banks had helped guarantee.

As documents from the court in St. Petersburg show, up to 238 million euros in securities, real estate and assets of the credit institution and its Russian subsidiary are affected at Deutsche Bank.

At Commerzbank, the court ordered the seizure of assets worth 93.7 million euros, as well as securities and the bank’s building in the center of Moscow.

The Petersburg court also ordered the confiscation of UniCredit assets amounting to 462.7 million euros. The Italian institution is the largest active foreign bank in Russia after the Austrian Raiffeisenbank and is one of the 20 largest banks in the country in terms of its balance sheet assets.

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Deutsche Bank said it had set aside provisions of 260 million euros for the case. However, this sum is fully secured by a compensation agreement with a customer. “It remains to be seen how this decision will be implemented by the Russian courts and what consequences this will have for our operations in Russia,” the bank said.

Commerzbank has not yet responded to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.

Banks guaranteed a gas project with Linde’s participation

In 2021, the Gazprom subsidiary RusChimAllianz signed a contract with the German industrial group Linde and the construction company Renaissance Heavy Industries to build a gas processing plant. RusChimAllianz paid Linde an advance for this, it was said. After the war of aggression against Ukraine launched by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the West imposed sanctions. According to the information, Linde has informed its clients that the work has stopped.

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The banks that had acted as guarantors for the deal also withdrew their guarantees because of the sanctions. In addition to Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Unicredit, Bayerische Landesbank and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg were also sued before the arbitration court in St. Petersburg.

In contrast to the other banks, these companies did not have large branches in Russia. German companies have lost billions in investments in Russia due to the sanctions.

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