Russia seized more than $100 million from Google and used the money to fund its propaganda campaign in support of President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine, according to a report.
Court documents obtained by the British newspaper Telegraph show that Google’s bank accounts in Russia were emptied out shortly after the invasion two years ago, leading to the bankruptcy of the tech giant’s Russian division.
The confiscated cash was transferred to state-owned Russian channels including RT and Tsargrad, a network that pledged to use the money to back the war effort.
Last week, Google filed suit against RT, Tsargrad and another Russia-based broadcaster, NFPT, in both US and UK courts.
Russian courts ordered Google to pay the three television channels large sums as compensation for the company’s decision to remove them from YouTube and deleting their Google accounts to comply with sanctions against Moscow.
In court filings from last week, Google said that Russia “levied unprecedented fines and arbitrary legal penalties against Google in an attempt to limit access to information on our services and as a punishment for our compliance with international sanctions against Russian individuals and organizations”.
“The bailiffs seized more than $100 (million) of Google Russia’s assets, even though the amount purportedly due under the judgment at the time was less than $12.5 (million),” Google said in one of the court filings.
“Tsargrad received one billion rubles from the seizure, which it said it would use to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
Google wants courts to prevent the three Russian broadcast entities from pursuing its assets in South Africa, Turkey and Serbia.
Tsargrad has sued Google in Turkey — claiming that the US-based tech giant owes it $360 million.
Russian court rulings doubled the penalty every 24 hours — meaning the sum could exceed Google’s market capitalization.
As of Monday, Google’s parent company had a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion — making it the fourth most valuable company in the world behind Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft.
The Post has sought comment from Google and the Russian government.