Key Points
- The administrator of Google’s bankrupt Russian unit has frozen about $129 million of Google’s assets in France.
- The action is based on a Moscow court ruling that found Google made an illegal dividend payment.
- The freeze is currently temporary and must be formally recognized by a French court, which Google can challenge.
- Google’s Russian business collapsed in 2022 after Russian authorities seized its bank account.
In a bold legal maneuver, the administrator of Google’s now-defunct Russian business has successfully frozen nearly $130 million in assets of the tech giant in France. The move is a rare attempt by Russian authorities to chase the assets of a Western company on foreign soil, escalating the financial fallout from the war in Ukraine.
The freeze is based on a series of rulings from Moscow arbitration courts. According to a lawyer for the administrator, a Russian court found Google liable for an illegal dividend payment of approximately $126 million in 2021. This legal battle is a direct consequence of Google’s withdrawal from Russia.
The local unit filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after Russian authorities seized its bank account, just months after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
For now, the asset freeze is temporary. To make it stick, the administrator’s lawyers must get the Russian court’s decision formally recognized by a French court, a process they plan to begin in the coming days.
Google will have the opportunity to challenge the freeze, and the entire legal fight in France could take more than a year to resolve.
This is not an isolated incident. The Russian administrator is reportedly pursuing similar legal actions in Spain, Turkey, and South Africa, signaling a wider, coordinated effort to enforce the Moscow court’s judgment. The move comes as tensions simmer over the potential seizure of frozen Russian state assets in Europe, turning this into a high-stakes legal and political chess match.
