EU countries have frozen 200 billion euros from the Russian central bank
The member states of the European Union have frozen a total of 200 billion euros from the Russian central bank. This was announced by the EU Commission at the request of “Welt am Sonntag” according to the preliminary report. Overall, the number of fixed foreign assets of the central bank in the G7 industrialized countries and the EU countries is around 300 billion euros.
The amount of frozen private assets of Russian oligarchs in Europe has hardly increased in the past six months. According to the Commission, assets in the amount of 24.1 billion euros were determined in the EU. Thus, 1473 oligarchs and 205 companies were sanctioned. At the end of December, the frozen assets totaled 18.9 billion euros. However, the German authorities have not determined any additional assets in the past three months. According to the newspaper, this was announced by the Federal Ministry of Finance on request.
However, the EU is no closer to the declared goal of making Russia pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. A Commission spokesman said Brussels should not confiscate the Russian money because it would have to be returned as soon as the sanctions were lifted. Discussions about an alternative plan to invest the funds in the capital market and transfer the proceeds to Ukraine “are still ongoing”. A decision is expected at the next European Council summit at the end of June at the earliest.