Moscow Stock Exchange considers legal action against US and UK sanctions

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Moscow Stock Exchange is discussing ways to challenge sanctions imposed by the United States and Britain that led to a halt in exchange trading of dollars and euros and a freeze on traded foreign assets, its lobby group said on Tuesday.

The lobby group, Investors’ Rights Protection Club, set up by the Moscow Exchange (MOEX), said lawyers briefed members on “legal defence strategies to challenge sanctions imposed on the MOEX group”.

The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on MOEX on June 12-13, 2024. The European Union imposed sanctions on MOEX’s depository NRD in March 2022, which resulted in a freeze of MOEX-traded European assets.

MOEX has been providing Russian and foreign investors with access to trade in global financial assets as part of its drive to widen its offering and provide instruments for diversification from the energy-focused Russian equity market.

(Reporting by Yelena Fabrichnaya, writing by Gleb Bryanski)