PARIS/MOSCOW, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The administrator of

Google's defunct Russian business has obtained a

temporary freeze on some 110 million euros ($129 million) of the

Alphabet-owned company's assets in France, official orders seen

by Reuters show.

The move represents a rare attempt by Russian authorities to

use legal channels to target assets of western companies

overseas, amid rising tensions over the potential use of seized

Russian assets in Europe.

Russia's central bank is separately suing Brussels-based

financial institution Euroclear, which holds many of the frozen

Russian assets, in a Moscow court.

The measure against Google France involves shares belonging

to Google International and was sought by Google Russia, acting

through its court-appointed judicial administrator.

The French bailiff declined to comment. Google, Google

Russia's administrator and the French government did not respond

to repeated Reuters requests for comment.

The French bailiff's orders show its action is based on

three rulings issued between 2024 and 2025 by Moscow arbitration

courts, which are regulated by international commercial law.

William Julie, the lawyer representing the liquidator at

French law firm WJ Avocats, said that a Russian tribunal had

found Google guilty of an illegal dividend payment in 2021 worth

around 10 billion roubles ($126 million).

Julie said the Russian liquidator was also pursuing

enforcement in Spain, Turkey and South Africa.

Google, whose parent Alphabet has a stock market value of

some $3.8 trillion, has faced multiple fines from Moscow, while

Google Russia filed for bankruptcy in 2022 when authorities

seized its bank account, months after Russia invaded Ukraine.

GOOGLE CAN CHALLENGE TEMPORARY FREEZE

The French bailiff's order creates a temporary freeze and

French law requires lawyers to launch formal recognition

proceedings within one month or the freeze expires.

Julie said those documents would be filed with the court in

the coming days and Google France also notified.

The Paris Judicial Court will then examine whether to grant

a formal recognition and enforcement authorisation of the

foreign arbitration decisions, Julie said, a process that could

take up to a year-and-a-half.

Google can challenge the temporary freeze with the

enforcement judge. If a recognition and enforcement

authorisation is granted, the frozen funds could be seized to

satisfy the arbitration court judgements, Julie added.

(1 euro = 93.0263 roubles)

($1 = 79.2455 roubles)

($1 = 0.8524 euros)