OREANDA-NEWS A group of 16 private investors filed a lawsuit against the Central Bank (CB). The plaintiffs demand to invalidate the actions of the regulator on the Moscow Stock Exchange on the morning of February 24, 2022. The application was registered by the Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow on October 23, it follows from the file of cases.

Investors are confident that the instructions of the Bank of Russia to stop trading on the stock exchange at 07:52 Moscow time and to resume trading at 09:50 contradict the law. In addition, the plaintiffs ask the court to recognize the inaction of the Central Bank as illegal.

The Moscow Exchange and the National Clearing Center (NCC), which is part of it, are involved as third parties. The preliminary hearing of the court is scheduled for November 27.

On February 24, at about six in the morning Moscow time, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian stock market opened that day with a decline in the main indices: the Moscow Stock Exchange index fell by about 11 percent by the beginning of trading, and by the end of the day, the depth of the daily market drop was the highest in the history of trading.

The Moscow exchange then reported that the quotations of the ruble, stocks and futures rested on the established boundaries, and stopped trading. The suspension of trading was also announced later by the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Two hours later, the Moscow Exchange resumed trading.