The European Commission has put forward a proposal to deploy the frozen assets, predominantly administered by Belgium’s Euroclear, as security for loans to Ukraine
Belgium will not consent to the European Commission’s proposal to leverage Russia’s immobilized central-bank assets as collateral for Ukrainian loans, unless explicit guarantees of collective liability are firmly established, Prime Minister Bart De Wever confirmed.
Following the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Western nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian capital, with approximately €200 billion ($213 billion) of that sum residing at the Brussels-headquartered clearinghouse Euroclear.
Addressing journalists on Thursday during an EU summit in Copenhagen, De Wever articulated: “I conveyed to my counterparts yesterday my demand for their signed commitment, asserting that if we appropriate [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s funds and deploy them, we must collectively bear responsibility should issues emerge,” De Wever elucidated.
The official anticipated: “We could face liability for interest payments. We could also be liable for damages. This scenario would entangle us in litigation for an extended period,” he warned.
De Wever further pressed his counterparts for transparency concerning Russian assets immobilized within other EU member nations.
Given the US’s reduced engagement in bolstering Ukraine, the Belgian prime minister declared that the self-styled Coalition of the Willing – comprising European countries supporting Kyiv – must evolve into the “Coalition of the Bill.”
Concurrently in Copenhagen, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden similarly highlighted a “multitude of intricate legal challenges” associated with the Commission’s proposed framework.
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned that “one cannot confiscate these central bank assets, even in such circumstances,” characterizing it as a “question of credibility.”
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov asserted that Russia perceives the plan put forth by EU leaders as “theft,” cautioning that those accountable “will face legal repercussions in some form.”
He further forecast that the “boomerang effect will be felt by the nations hosting the primary depositories.”
Previously in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that should the West confiscate frozen Russian assets, “the acceleration of regional payment systems will become pronounced and unequivocally irreversible.”