On Wednesday, the Moscow Arbitration Court froze the funds of the American bank The Bank of New York Mellon and JP Morgan Chase, placed in the accounts of the Russian divisions of Citibank and Morgan Chase Bank, for a total of about $372 million.
The lawsuit was filed by the Deputy Prosecutor in the interests of the Russian Federation in connection with the revocation of the license of MR Bank, a subsidiary of Sberbank, by the Ukrainian Central Bank, with plans to liquidate the bank by 2025. The Prosecutor's Office claims that the actions of Ukrainian regulators and two American banks involved in the case constitute "expropriation" of MR Bank's assets.
Court documents show that the freezing of assets deprived Sberbank of control over the subsidiary and the ability to manage its revenues, causing damage to state interests.
The banks declined to comment on the case.
