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Yet another headache for
Western financial institutions.

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In Russia, the banks had
guaranteed the finances of a gas terminal

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project in the Baltic Sea, but in
the wake of Western sanctions,

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they withdrew support and
the construction was cancelled.

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The court case came at
the request of a subsidiary of

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Russian gas giant Gazprom,
which is now claiming

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nearly €240 million from
Deutsche Bank and almost €95 million

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from Commerzbank.

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And now, as the European Union
considers, or has actually

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now agreed, to use,
the profits from the frozen

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Russian assets to arm
Ukraine, it's increasingly likely

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that the Russian state will take
action against the Western assets in

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Russia.

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And so it's entirely possible
the timing of this decision by

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the court seems awfully
suspicious, coming as it does just

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as the European Union
has made that decision.

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In a statement, Deutsche Bank said
we will need to see how this claim

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is implemented by the Russian
courts and assess the immediate

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operational impact in Russia.

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The legal showdown comes amid
A heated debate over the presence

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and activities of 
some Western banks in Russia,

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despite the sanctions over
Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.

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There are these European banks
that are earning billions of dollars in

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the midst of this and then paying
hundreds of millions of dollars of

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taxes to the Russian government.

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That's just highly immoral,
totally inappropriate.

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It goes against the geostrategic 
security interests of Europe.

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It goes against
morality and it's got to stop.

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Many firms have pulled
out of Russia entirely,

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but for the ones that stayed,
the pressure is growing.

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Not just from
the West, but Russia itself.