The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

Source: The Guardian December 17, 2025 15:51 UTC