In a significant escalation of the ongoing economic tussle between Moscow and Western tech giants, Google has found itself the target of a substantial financial strike on French soil. A French bailiff has executed a temporary freeze on approximately €110 million ($129 million) of the technology titan's assets, a move directly stemming from a legal ruling in Moscow. This development marks a rare and aggressive instance of Russian legal maneuvers successfully reaching into Western jurisdictions to seize corporate capital.
The freeze, executed in early December 2025, targets shares owned by Google International within its French subsidiary, Google France.
The legal action was initiated by the court-appointed administrator of Google's now-defunct Russian division. The administrator successfully argued before a Moscow arbitration court that Google had extracted significant funds specifically an alleged illegal dividend payment made in 2021 from its Russian entity shortly before it declared bankruptcy. This financial extraction, they claim, left the Russian subsidiary unable to meet its obligations to creditors, prompting the administrator to seek restitution through international legal channels. Legal experts view this event as a watershed moment in corporate law, illustrating how the geopolitical friction between Russia and the West is spilling over into commercial litigation. While the European Union and the United States have moved to freeze Russian sovereign assets in response to the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow appears to be retaliating by utilizing its own judicial system to pursue the assets of Western conglomerates abroad. The breakdown of Google's Russian operations in 2022, which followed the seizure of its bank accounts by Russian authorities, has now evolved into a trans-border legal pursuit affecting the company's standing in the heart of Europe.
The current asset freeze in France is provisional, serving as a holding measure while the legal process unfolds. For the seizure to become permanent, the Russian administrator must initiate formal recognition proceedings before the Paris Judicial Court within one month. This legal battle could potentially drag on for over a year as French judges determine whether to enforce the Russian arbitration rulings. In the interim, Google retains the right to challenge the freeze with an enforcement judge, though the company has remained tight-lipped regarding its immediate legal strategy.
This case serves as a stark warning to multinational corporations navigating the fractured landscape of global commerce. It highlights that exiting a volatile market like Russia does not necessarily grant immunity from future legal entanglements. With similar enforcement actions reportedly being pursued in other jurisdictions such as Spain, Turkey, and South Africa, the tech industry is watching closely to see if this sets a precedent for how international asset disputes are handled in an increasingly polarized world.
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