Russian Central Bank’s French Bank Account Unfrozen

PARIS (RIA Novosti) — An account held by the Russian Central Bank (CBR) at France’s Natixis bank, which was frozen in January follow­ing a suit by Swiss firm Noga, was unfrozen on Wednesday, a lawyer for the CBR said.

“We have obtained the Paris Tribunal’s decision to unfreeze the Russian Central Bank’s funds totaling 50 million euros placed in the French bank Natixis,” the lawyer said.

The French court agreed with the CBR’s lawyers that the Bank of Russia is an independent legal entity and has no responsibility for the Russian gov­ernment’s debts.

Some assets of Russian organizations, including accounts held by the CBR and news agency RIA Novosti were frozen over a 49 million euro ($75 million) claim by the Swiss trad­ing firm to secure the repayment of debts under barter oil deals struck with Russia’s government in the early 1990s.

Since 1993, Noga has repeatedly applied for the seizure of Russian property abroad, including a sailing vessel and military aircraft that took part in exhibitions and shows, and in 2005 a collection of paintings owned by the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, to secure the repayment of debts.

The Russian government, the CBR and RIA Novosti filed a suit against Noga and persons who assisted the company in inflicting damages on them through “ungrounded” and “illegal” property seizures. Rulings are expected in a month’s time.

The Moscow News (660)

Notes

freeze, v замораживать

suit иск

damage [′dæmədЗ] ущерб

court суд

ruling постановление судьи

11. Translate the following words with different prefixes:

in dependent, to un froze, re payment, un grounded, il legal.

12. Read and translate the following nets of the English words:

to borrow – borrower; to lend – lender; to pay – payment – repayment; to deal – a deal – dealer; legal – illegal - legality.

13. Try to match up the words in column A with their equivalents in column B:

A B

1. legal entity a. долги правительства

2. gov­ernment’s debts b. положить деньги в банке

3. trad­ing firm c. конфискация имущества

4. to place money in a bank d. юридическое лицо

5. property seizure e. гарантировать выплату долгов

6. to secure the repayment of debts f. торговая фирма

7. to freeze accounts g. активы банка

8. assets of a bank h. замораживать счета

14. Translate these little sentences:

1. This bank account is held by my parents. 2. Our account was frozen in March. 3. Your account was unfrozen yesterday. 4. 60 million euros were placed in the French bank. 5. Where do you hold your account? 6. The company is to secure the repayment of debts. 7. This company has many barter oil deals with foreign countries. 8. Some assets of this organization were frozen. 9. This collection of paintings is owned by a French company.

15. Answer the questions:

1. What is the main bank of Russia? 2. What other banks do you know? 3. Have you ever placed your money in a bank? 4. Have you got a bank account?

16. Read and translate the text:

TEXT 6