Russia Sues Bank of New York for $22 Billion

Reopening old case another sign of new tensions
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted May 18, 2007 7:40 AM CDT
Russia Sues Bank of New York for $22 Billion
Russian President Vladimir Putin waits for arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Volzhsky Utyos health resort near Samara, 900 km (550 miles) southeast of Moscow, Thursday, May 17, 2007. A summit between Russia and the European Union starts late Thursday. (AP Photo/Anatoly Maltsev, Pool)   (Associated Press)

The Russian government hit the Bank of New York with as $22 Billion lawsuit in a Moscow court Wednesday—the latest in a wave of hostile moves some see as portending a new Cold War. With Russians irate over U.S. missile bases planned for Eastern Europe, East-West relations are their lowest  ebb since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Financial Times notes.

The lawsuit is over unpaid taxes on billions of dollars taken out of Russia in a money-laundering scheme run by a Russian executive at the bank. The scandal appeared to have been settled two years ago. The FT suggests that reopening the case may also signal the start of an investigation into  corruption from the Yeltsin era, in the wake of Yeltsin's death last month. (More Russia stories.)

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