Google’s Russian Subsidiary Pays $207.7 Million in Fines Imposed on US Parent Company

By Staff, Agencies

Google’s Russian subsidiary has paid nearly 16.8 billion rubles [$207.7 million] toward fines imposed in Russia on its US-based parent company, Google LLC, the subsidiary’s bankruptcy trustee told a court hearing, Russian state media reported Thursday.

Valery Talyarovsky, the insolvency administrator for the Russian entity, said that more than 16.7 billion rubles [$206.5 million] had been deposited into the bank account of OOO Google by September 20, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti.

Of that amount, approximately 14.7 billion rubles [$181.7 million] were transferred by Russia’s Federal Bailiffs Service to cover fines imposed on the US corporation, Talyarovsky said.

The bailiffs also collected more than 2.1 billion rubles [$26 million] from debtors of the Russian subsidiary under enforcement documents in its favor. Those funds were also directed toward paying the parent company’s fines, bringing total payments to nearly 16.8 billion rubles [$207.7 million].

Talyarovsky added that more than 18.8 billion rubles [$232.5 million] had been paid into the bankruptcy estate of OOO Google over the course of the insolvency proceedings.

The remaining funds were allocated to ongoing claims by Russia’s Federal Tax Service and outstanding wage payments to former employees, among other obligations. More than 400 million rubles [$5 million] was used to settle wage arrears, he said.

Meanwhile, Google’s outstanding liability for administrative fines in Russia has reached 2 undecillion rubles, with the amount continuing to increase because of late payment. The astronomical figure far exceeds the estimated size of the global economy, which stood at approximately $106 trillion in 2023, according to the World Bank.

The dispute dates back to 2020, when Google began accumulating daily penalties of 100,000 rubles [approximately $1,000] after losing legal cases over its blocking of certain Russian YouTube channels. The penalties were structured to double every week.

Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, YouTube blocked additional Russian channels, expanding the number of claimants involved in the legal dispute to 17.

Google has also faced repeated fines in Russia for violations of the country’s legislation, adding to the broader legal and financial conflict between the technology company and Russian authorities.