Europe plans €3 billion in seized Russian assets for Western investors

Euroclear, the Belgian financial services firm, plans to seize and redistribute approximately €3 billion from frozen Russian assets to compensate Western investors whose funds were confiscated by Moscow in recent months, following the escalation of economic conflict after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This move draws on a pool of €10 billion in sanctioned Russian cash and is enabled by recent changes to the EU sanctions regime, with Belgian authorities approving the payouts in March and Euroclear notifying clients in April. The redistribution represents a significant new level of financial retaliation between Europe and Russia; however, it does not impact the more than €200 billion in Russian central bank reserves that remain frozen in the EU. Critics, including experts from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, argue that channeling these funds to Western investors rather than using them for Ukraine's reconstruction is a politically motivated decision that prioritizes corporations over broader public interests. The move is seen as a direct response to Moscow's earlier seizure of Western-held funds in Russia. The identities of the Russian owners whose assets will be seized have not been disclosed.