The Watch Tower Society of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit on September 3, 2024, naming as defendants the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Health, and the Almazov National Medical Research Center. Unfortunately, I can't access the case documents, including the complaint. I would appreciate if someone with an active PACER account could make them available.
Anyway, it is enough to know the Almazov Center is one of the entities sued by the WTS to say what this case is about. The said Center operates on the premises of the former Bethel and Assembly Hall in St. Petersburg. The branch properties were owned by Watch Tower Pennsylvania, which is now apparently challenging their unlawful expropriation before US courts.
This move was predictable from the beginning, probably delayed in anticipation of the European Court's intervention. Surely, judges in Strasbourg awarded the org compensation (50 million euros or so) for property loss - except they did it precisely when Russia abandoned any willingness to follow its international obligations, at least vis-à-vis "unfriendly countries" of the "collective West". Albeit binding, that ruling - as any other issued by the ECHR - can't be forcefully enforced, thus providing little relief for Watch Tower.
Now, Paul Polidoro is prosecuting the Russian Federation before a US district court. That exactly is the problem - foreign governments are generally entitled to sovereign immunity, and in light of the recent DC circuit's Chabad 2024 ruling it's hard to see how Watch Tower can establish jurisdiction in an American court. But still, I'm not familiar with the complaint, and who knows, maybe our esteemed Esquire will manage to obtain another big victory before SCOTUS. Even so, the prospects of the hunt for Russian assets seem not very bright. Time will tell how this special legal operation will turn out.