Google assets worth 115 million euros were seized in Belgium at the request of the Russian subsidiary

A Belgian court has seized the property of Google Belgium in the amount of €115 million at the request of Russian Google LLC. This was reported on June 3 by the newspaper Vedomosti, citing a source familiar with the decision.

The arrest was imposed as an interim measure in the framework of the enforcement of the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court. The Russian side is seeking to recover the dividends, which, according to investigators, were withdrawn from Google LLC shortly before the bankruptcy proceedings began. A court in Moscow found that the payments were made to avoid settlements with creditors.

The interim measure should prevent possible attempts to restructure or bankrupt Google's Belgian division before the trial ends.

"This is not just a bankruptcy case for a subsidiary in Russia. The dispute demonstrates the limits of the moral and legal responsibility of global companies operating in the markets of sovereign countries, be it Russia, France or Belgium. It is necessary to act wherever Google's assets can be found to enforce the Russian court's decision," said Michael de Boeck, a Belgian lawyer for Google LLC.

As Artur Zurabyan, coordinator of the international team of lawyers on the project, partner of the Art De Lex Law Firm, explained, the dividend claims are only part of the dispute. The bankruptcy also challenges the withdrawal of more than 160 billion rubles from Russia in a number of transactions after 2018.

If the Belgian court satisfies the plaintiff's claims on the merits after considering the case, the seized assets will be recovered. The funds received will be used to pay creditors of the Russian division of the American corporation. Google Belgium and Google International LLC retain the right to appeal the arrest order.

Currently, Google LLC has initiated recognition processes for Russian court decisions in more than ten countries. So, on June 1, the Madrid court of First instance confirmed its jurisdiction to consider a similar application. In December 2025, the arrest of Google France shares for 112 million euros was ordered by a court in Paris, and in October of the same year, a similar decision was made by the Supreme Court of South Africa.

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The massive transformation of information services using AI in Runet has not yet been discussed.

On May 6, the press service of the capital's courts of general jurisdiction reported that the Moscow city court had recognized fines for Google totaling 7.6 million rubles for failure to remove prohibited content in Russia. It was clarified that we are talking about the resolutions of the Tagansky District Court of December 3 and 17, 2025. Google was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation ("Failure by the site owner or the owner of an information resource in the Internet information and telecommunications network to delete information or an Internet page").