Russia’s central bank is now two lawsuits deep in its fight against the European Union over roughly €210 billion ($244 billion) in frozen sovereign assets, filing its latest challenge on May 25 with the EU General Court. The case targets a specific EU regulation that allows those frozen reserves to underpin a €90 billion ($105 billion) interest-free loan to Ukraine.
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) argues that linking its frozen reserves to Ukraine’s financial support violates EU rule-of-law principles and fundamental rights protections.
The legal timeline so far
The EU regulation in question was enacted on February 24, 2026, exactly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered the initial asset freeze. The regulation formally permits the use of frozen Russian central bank reserves to facilitate the repayment of a massive loan to Kyiv.
This is the CBR’s second lawsuit. The first was filed in March 2026, challenging the indefinite freezing of the assets themselves. Now Moscow is going after the mechanism that puts those assets to work for its adversary.
