As a representative of the European Commission, Christian Wiegand, explained there are two different elements: private assets and state assets. The amount of frozen private assets is at a €24.1B equivalent. Discussions are currently underway with EU member states regarding their use for Ukraine.
“This work will have a result. Because in terms of criminal penalties, confiscation of assets is now possible when sanctions are circumvented. Discussions are ongoing, and we hope it will be approved very soon,” the EC spokesman added.
As for state assets, the assets of the Russian Federation currently held in the EU amount to more than €200B, mostly assets of the Russian Central Bank. The future European Council should consider which option to choose from those proposed by the European Commission a few months ago. “The EU leaders should determine the best use of the accumulated interest from these assets by the EU“, Wiegand noted.