The European Union (EU) has already blocked Russian assets worth 21.5 billion euros. We are talking about the money and property of oligarchs and other persons from the sanctions lists for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This was stated by European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, reports RaiNews.
On February 17, he met with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin.
“To date, we have managed to freeze the assets of oligarchs and individuals included in the sanctions list against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, in the amount of 21.5 billion euros,” Reynders said.
In addition, according to the European Commissioner, the EU continues to search for and freeze Russian assets. This applies to the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia (analogous to the Ukrainian NBU). Reynders noted that the EU is also working to freeze transactions between institutions.
The European Union may oblige banks to report the amount of frozen Russian assets. This could help him use the money to rebuild Ukraine.
However, this is not about confiscation, but about investment. It is assumed that after using the funds, they will at some point return to Russia, and with interest.
The plan also stipulates that if investments in Ukraine do not bring profit, Europe will have to pay extra to Russia from its budget in the future. In connection with such conditions, the mechanism caused considerable skepticism among European officials.
We previously wrote: Putin’s attack on Ukraine: Zelensky named three main tasks for the near future.