“The Belgian financial company Euroclear plans to confiscate and redistribute about 3 billion euros of frozen Russian funds after Moscow seized investors’ money in Russia. Source: “European Truth”, Reuters with reference to the relevant documents and people who are aware of this issue: money will be used to compensate for Western investors after Moscow has confiscated the cash stored in Russia in recent months, three familiar persons said.”, – WRITE: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: “European Truth”, Reuters with reference to the relevant documents and people aware of this issue
Details: Money will be used to compensate for Western investors after Moscow has seized the cash stored in Russia in recent months, three familiar persons said.
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Europeanar will redistribute 3 billion euros from a pool of 10 billion euros of cash, which is owned by Russian legal entities and individuals who have fallen under the sanctions of the European Union after the invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine in 2022, two of these persons reported.
This step marks a new level of pressure from Europe.
In the past, the event organized loans and payments to Ukraine with interest on frozen Russian assets that the Russian leader Vladimir Putin called theft.
The planned payment of Belgium was caused by the Russian government’s order to confiscate billions of Western investors last year. EuroClear has suffered pressure from international investors demanding to release money. Reuters failed to determine who will benefit from payment.
According to the sources of the agency, in March, Euroclear received permission from Belgium to make payments.
Europeanar reported to clients about future payments in the information document of April 1, which was reviewed by Reuters.
“We have received permission from our competent authority to thaw the amount of compensation and give them to our participants,” the document reads.
Reuters failed to identify the Russian owners whose assets are confiscated.
Western investors will not affect more than 200 billion euros of reserves of Russian Central Bank, which were frozen in the EU, two sources said.
However, this will reduce the reserves of Russian assets, including cash, stocks and bonds, which are almost completely stored in Europeanar and give a block of levers of influence on Moscow. Some hoped that frozen Russian assets could be used to rebuild Ukraine.
Western investors have in Russia assets for tens of billion, from confiscated factories to cash.
The decisions of Europe to defrost Russian assets in Europe for investors are critical.
“It would be morally unacceptable to arrest Russian assets and give them to Western investors,” said Jacob Kirkegard, an expert from the Washington Analytical Center of Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The European Union has frozen hundreds of billions of Russian assets, including the reserves of the Central Bank, after the full -scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine in February 2022, which became an unprecedented step and the greatest punishment for Russia.
Europeanar has a lion’s share of sanctioned Russian assets in Europe – over 180 billion euros.
The return of this money is important for Moscow and caused about 100 lawsuits against Europear, said one of the interlocutors. Reuters failed to establish the status of these court cases.
Last year, Moscow warned that it would take action if its frozen assets are confiscated and used for Ukraine, and earlier this year made changes to the legislation that allow it to do so.
It is worth noting that in the EU for a long time are conducting discussions about confiscation frozen assets of the Russian Federation and their transfer to Ukraine.
However, big countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, oppose because they fearthat, having confiscated funds, the EU scares international investors and will lose its greatest advantage in peace talks.