On Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported that according to arbitration court files, RusChemAlliance (RCA), a joint venture which Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom holds a 50% stake in, has filed a legal action against several German banks over contracts from 2021 which were not fulfilled as a result of Western sanctions levied in response to the military conflict in Ukraine.

Interfax reported that on June 27th, RCA filed one legal claim against Deutsche Bank AG in the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region Arbitration Court for the ruble equivalent of $244.5 million. On June 29th, RCA filed another legal claim against Commerzbank AG for the equivalent of $96 million.

Half-owned by gas production firm RusGazDobycha, in July of 2021, RCA signed a contract with a consortium of Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries to construct a gas processing plant in the Leningrad Region. After delivering an advance payment to Linde, RCA says the German company suspended construction in June of 2022, claiming it was forced to under EU sanctions.

RCA said the guarantor banks claimed sanctions would not allow them to honor their obligations. RCA maintains the work promised in the contracts is not affected by EU sanctions.

RCA filed another claim earlier this year against Linde for approximately €1 billion. As an interim measure pending a ruling on the case, the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region Arbitration Court ordered the seizure of Linde’s assets in Russia.