The Bank of Russia will challenge the block placed on its gold and foreign exchange reserves and is working on lawsuits, Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said on Tuesday.
"This freezing of gold and foreign exchange reserves was unprecedented, so we are going to work on legal claims, and we are getting ready to put them forward. This block on the gold and foreign exchange reserves of such a large country is unprecedented on a global scale," she said, emphasizing that the regulator will fight the West's infringement against Russia's assets.
Nabiullina noted that due to the freezing of part of the reserves, additional currency regulations had to be introduced. "We have introduced these currency regulations. I know that many enterprises also complained a lot in terms of foreign economic activity, when it was difficult to pay. But it was a forced measure. If we had these gold and foreign exchange reserves in possession, and had this part not been frozen, there would have been no need for such draconian measures on the movement of capital," she explained.
At the end of February, the EU decided to prohibit transactions related to the management of the reserves and assets of the Bank of Russia, including transactions with any legal entity, or legal entities or bodies acting on behalf of or at the direction of the Bank of Russia.
Nonetheless, the EU authorities may authorize transactions, provided that they are strictly necessary to ensure the financial stability of the continent-wide bloc as a whole or a separate EU member state.
Earlier, the foreign ministers of 27 EU countries approved a ban on all transactions with the Bank of Russia and froze its assets.