Euroclear says if EU tries seizing Russian assets, he will sue bloc
Euroclear, which handles roughly $46 trillion in securities annually for global financial institutions, currently holds about $200 billion of the $300 billion in Russian Central Bank assets frozen by Western authorities following the 2022 escalation in Ukraine. Urbain stressed that any attempt at confiscation would be illegal, and the depository is prepared to “decide what we can and want to do” depending on the legal framework. She added that litigation is “not out of the question.”
The European Commission has proposed using frozen Russian funds to back a €140 billion ($160 billion) loan to Ukraine, a plan opposed by Belgium, which insists that legal and financial risks must be shared across the EU. The bloc’s reclassification of interest earned on immobilized Russian assets as “windfall profits” earmarked for Kiev has already stretched legal definitions.
Reports suggest that Western backers of Ukraine see seizing Russian funds as increasingly necessary, as Ukraine struggles to secure new loans from the International Monetary Fund and faces a massive corruption scandal. According to the KSE institute, the country’s budget is running a $53 billion annual shortfall, which Western sponsors are expected to cover.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that any confiscation of its Central Bank assets would constitute “theft” and could severely damage trust in Western financial institutions among third countries.
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