Belgium demands signed EU guarantees before seizing Russian assets

The European Commission has proposed using the frozen funds, most of which are held by Belgium’s Euroclear, to back loans for Ukraine

Belgium will not acquiesce to the European Commission’s plan of leveraging Russia’s frozen central-bank assets to back loans for Ukraine without ironclad guarantees of shared responsibility, Prime Minister Bart De Wever has stated.

Western nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian funds after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 – some €200 billion ($213 billion) of which is held by the Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an EU summit in Copenhagen on Thursday, De Wever said: “I explained to my colleagues yesterday that I want their signature saying, if we take [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s money, we use it, we’re all going to be responsible if it goes wrong,” De Wever clarified.

“We might be liable for interests. We might be liable for damages. And this will put us in litigation for many, many years,” the official predicted.

De Wever also urged his colleagues to be transparent regarding the Russian assets immobilized in other EU member states.

As the US has diminished its involvement in shoring up Ukraine, the so-called Coalition of the Willing – a group of European nations backing Kiev – will have to transform into the “Coalition of the Bill,” the Belgian prime minister said.

Also speaking in Copenhagen, Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden similarly spoke of a “whole series of complex legal issues” surrounding the Commission’s scheme.

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Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that “you cannot seize these assets from the central bank, even in such a situation,” describing it as a “matter of credibility.”

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia viewed the scheme proposed by the EU leadership as “theft,” and warned that those responsible “will be subjected to legal prosecution in one way or another.”

He also predicted that the “boomerang will hit countries which host the main depositories.”

Back in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the moment the West seizes frozen Russian assets, “the shift toward regional payment systems will accelerate and undoubtedly become irreversible.”