Russian banks to take EU to court over sanctions

Russia’s top bank Sberbank said on Friday that it had lodged a case at the EU Court of Justice in Luxemburg to overturn the bloc’s restrictive measures.

In similar announcements, two other Russian banks, VTB and Vneshekonombank, also said they had filed lawsuits against the EU, asking the high court to lift the economic bans.

The 28-nation bloc imposed punitive measures on five Russian financial institutions in July to restrict their access to main European monetary markets.

In recent months, the Western states have imposed sanctions on Russia, including on its financial and energy sectors, putting a number of Russian nationals close to President Vladimir Putin on a sanctions list.

In a tit-for-tat measure, Moscow also imposed year-long food bans on the United States, the EU, Australia, Canada and Norway in August. The move is estimated to cost European agricultural industries millions of dollars.

The West accuses Moscow of having a hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, which erupted when Kiev launched military operations in April to silence pro-Russia protests. However, the Kremlin denies the accusation.

In August, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would exhaust all efforts to safeguard its “legitimate interests” should the Western states adopt more sanctions against the country.

HK