Russia plans to sue to regain access to $300 billion in frozen foreign currency reserves

Russia plans to file lawsuits to regain access to its foreign currency reserves, according to a report Tuesday, a potential move spurred by Western nations cutting off Moscow from the money for its invasion of Ukraine.

Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of Russia's central bank, said that the freeze was unprecedented on a global scale.

According to the Financial Times, Nabiullina didn't give any details about who Russia would seek legal action against. Russia's finance minister said last month that $300 billion in reserves were not accessible.

The US and European countries froze half of their Russian currency reserves in the wake of the war in Russia. Russia's ability to take part in the global financial system has been hampered by the ban of some Russian banks from the financial messaging system used for international money transfers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that freezing its assets was an act of surprise by Western nations.