Google's Russian subsidiary pays nearly $207.7M in fines imposed on US parent company

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Google’s Russian subsidiary has paid almost 16.8 billion rubles ($207.7 million) in fines imposed in Russia on the US-based Google LLC, the unit’s bankruptcy receiver told a court hearing, Russia's state media reported Thursday.

Valery Talyarovsky, bankruptcy trustee (insolvency administrator) of a Russian branch, said that by Sept. 20, more than 16.7 billion rubles ($206.5 million) had arrived in the bank account of the Russian company, OOO Google, according to state news agency RIA.

About 14.7 billion rubles ($181.7 million) of that amount were written off by Russia’s Federal Bailiffs Service to cover fines against the parent company, he said.

The bailiffs also collected more than 2.1 billion rubles ($26 million) from debtors of the Russian unit under enforcement documents in its favor, and those funds were also used to pay the US corporation’s fines, he said, bringing total payments to almost 16.8 billion rubles ($207.7 million).

Over the course of the bankruptcy proceedings, more than 18.8 billion rubles ($232.5 million) have been paid into the estate of OOO Google, Talyarovsky said.

The remaining funds were used for current claims of the Federal Tax Service and to pay wage arrears to former employees, among other things, he said. More than 400 million rubles ($5 million) went to pay workers.

Google’s debt to Russia for administrative fines reached 2 undecillion rubles and continues to grow due to late payment.

The total fine exceeded the total GDP of the entire world, which was at around $106 trillion in 2023, according to the World Bank.

The figure stems from a dispute that began in 2020 when Google began accumulating daily penalties of 100,000 rubles ($1,000) after losing lawsuits over blocking some Russian YouTube channels, with the penalty doubling each week.

After the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, YouTube also blocked other Russian channels, and the number of claimants grew to 17 Russian channels.

In addition, Google has been regularly fined for not complying with Russian legislation.