On Wednesday, the Moscow Arbitration Court took a major step by freezing funds held in Russian branches of major American banks, totaling about $372 million.

This action was prompted by a petition from the Deputy Prosecutor of Russia, aimed at “ensuring the interests of the Russian Federation.”

The case is related to the National Bank of Ukraine’s intention to revoke the license of MR Bank, the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank, and plans to liquidate it by 2025.

Russian prosecutors recently filed a lawsuit against Ukrainian regulators and the American banks involved in the case, including Bank of New York Mellon and JP Morgan Chase Bank, alleging that the actions taken constituted an “expropriation” of MR Bank’s property, thereby violating Russia’s legal rights.

Prosecutors are seeking to establish in court that $121 million in funds at JP Morgan Chase and $251 million at Bank of New York Mellon belong to Sberbank.

The lawsuits allege that the Russian bank was deprived of judicial oversight over its subsidiary, limiting its ability to manage profits and, as a result, depriving the state of access to revenues generated by MR Bank's international operations.