Russia has not only threatened Europe through drone incursions and hybrid interference operations, but also in court. By exploiting old commercial treaties dating back to the end of the Cold War, Russian companies and oligarchs have multiplied arbitration proceedings to challenge the European Union’s sanctions policy, posing an increasingly serious financial risk to member states.

This warning was issued by a coalition of European NGOs, including the Veblen Institute for Economic Reforms, Friends of the Earth Europe and PowerShift, in a report published on Tuesday, December 9 titled “Frozen Assets, Hot Claims: How Russian oligarchs and other investors sue over sanctions.” These organizations estimate that at least $48 billion (€41 billion) has been claimed from the EU and its allies (the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Canada) in compensation for these sanctions – a minimum figure, as most of the 24 proceedings identified in the report have not disclosed the amounts sought.

After their villas, yachts and works of art were frozen following the invasion of Ukraine, several oligarchs have retaliated through legal proceedings, with varying degrees of success. In 2024, Piotr Aven and Mikhail Fridman won a case in the EU’s court, which found their contribution to the war to be too indirect to justify the sanctions imposed on them.