ROME, July 1. /TASS/. The Italian financial group UniCredit, which has the subsidiary in Russia, applied to the General Court of the EU for the legal clarification of obligations set forth by the European Central Bank (ECB) to reduce risks related to bank’s operations in Russia.

"UniCredit informs that it has made an application to the General Court of European Union to obtain definitive legal clarification of the obligations set by the European Central Bank's requirements to further reduce the risks associated with UniCredit's activities in Russia, carried out by subsidiaries including UniCredit Bank Russia," the financial group said.

Since February 2022 UniCredit adopted a number of strategies to significantly reduce its Russian presence "resulting in a reduction of its cross-border exposure by 91% and its domestic exposure by 65% to date with further substantial reductions to be implanted based on the commitments with UniCredit's action plan," UniCredit said.

"The unprecedented circumstances, the complexities inherent in the geo-political and economic scenario and the lack of a harmonized regulatory framework applicable to it and the potential for serious unintended consequences of implementing the decision that would impact not only the Russian subsidiaries but UniCredit S.p.A., compel the Board of Directors of UniCredit to seek for clarity and certainty of the duties and of the actions to be undertaken. To this purpose, it has filed the application to the General Court of European Union to get clarity about the obligations that UniCredit shall abide by. This application has been made in the full knowledge of the ECB," the Italian bank added.