Can The EU Confiscate Russia’s Assets Without Risking Financial Chaos?

Imagine holding billions of dollars in frozen assets, but not knowing what will happen if they’re taken away. That’s exactly the challenge facing Euroclear, a Belgium-based financial giant that’s sitting on nearly €197 billion ($213 billion) of Russian assets frozen under EU sanctions. These assets, belonging to Russia’s central bank, have sparked intense debate across Europe about whether they should be confiscated to help Ukraine – but Euroclear is sounding the alarm.

Here’s where it gets interesting: While these frozen funds aren’t being touched directly, they’re still earning massive amounts of interest – €5.15 billion in just the first nine months of this year. The EU has already started funneling some of this money to Ukraine, but the idea of seizing the assets themselves has set off a storm of warnings, risks, and accusations of theft.

Euroclear’s Big Fear

Euroclear’s CEO, Valerie Urbain, dropped a bombshell during an interview with Bloomberg. She warned that if th...