A Russian court has frozen about $36mn worth of Goldman Sachs’ assets in the country after state-owned bank Otkritie, which is under western sanctions, filed a lawsuit against the US bank.
Otkritie accused Goldman of refusing to fulfil Rbs615mn ($6.4mn) of debt obligations under derivatives agreements between the two banks. According to court documents published earlier this month, Goldman had pointed to the sanctions imposed against the Russian bank by the US and other western countries for not being able to settle the debt.
Otkritie claimed that Goldman Sachs wanted to leave Russia, which would make debt collection impossible, and requested that the court temporarily seize the US bank’s assets until the case was resolved. Goldman on Monday declined to comment on the court’s decision.