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U.S. Fund’s $225 Billion Tsarist-Debt Lawsuit Advances as Russia’s Response Deadline Nears

The case tests successor-state liability alongside proposals to repurpose frozen Russian assets.

Overview

  • Russia faces a Jan. 29 court deadline to answer Noble Capital RSD’s suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
  • The fund asks U.S. authorities to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to satisfy the alleged debt from repudiated imperial bonds.
  • Noble Capital claims $25 million in 1916 sovereign bonds with a 5.5% coupon and seeks more than a century of accrued interest, lifting the claim above $225 billion.
  • Defendants include Russia’s Finance Ministry, the Central Bank, and the National Wealth Fund, with Marks & Sokolov saying it represents Russia and disputing enforceability.
  • A senior Russian lawmaker condemned the suit as “legal aggression,” while legal analysts reported by RBC view the fund’s chances as low but potentially influential for asset-policy debates.