EU has frozen 200 billion euros of Russian central bank funds

The EU has updated the data on frozen Russian assets: more than 200 billion euros of central bank reserves and 24.1 billion euros of individuals and legal entities under sanctions.

Source. This was reported by Bloomberg.

Russia must pay for the damage it has caused to Ukraine, said European Commission spokesman Christian Wiegand. To this end, the EU is exploring ways to use the blocked assets. The issue is being actively discussed both within the bloc and with international allies.

More concrete proposals are to be considered by EU leaders at the summit in June.

In the 10th package of sanctions, the EU obliged banks to report on frozen assets and reserves. The deadline for submitting such reports was May 12.

According to the updated data provided by Wiegand, the EU has frozen more than 200 billion euros of assets of the Central Bank of Russia since the beginning of the war. The amount of frozen assets of Russian citizens and companies on the sanctions lists amounted to 24.1 billion euros (in mid-February, it was 21.5 billion euros).

Separately, the EU is considering the possibility of seizing the private assets of Russians under sanctions when they commit criminal offenses. These may include sanctions evasion.

The FT, citing informed sources, previously reported that the EU countries discussed the transfer of profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. Such a step would not lead to their expropriation, but would mean an escalation of Western financial pressure on Russia, the newspaper said. It is not known exactly what amount is involved, but due to high interest rates, Euroclear is currently making a record profit from reinvesting Russian assets (in the first quarter, it reported receiving 734 million euros in interest).

According to the Belgian government, Euroclear has frozen Russian assets worth €196.6 billion, of which €180 billion are assets of the Russian central bank.