In Germany, as of the beginning of December 2023, approximately 4.1 billion euros of Russian assets have been seized in connection with the Russian aggressive war against Ukraine. This was announced during a briefing by a representative of the press service of the German Ministry of Finance, Nodjinan Niminde-Dundadengar, according to Ukrinform.
He explained that these are frozen funds, economic resources of specific individuals, and blocked funds of the Russian central bank.
At the same time, the spokesperson for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christian Wagner, reminded that the G7 countries agreed to “make efforts and ensure that Russia pays for the reconstruction of Ukraine in the long term.” For this purpose, it was decided to freeze Russian state assets in accordance with the legal systems of the participating states. To achieve this, a registry of damages incurred during the aggression has also been initiated.
Germany also plans to confiscate over 720 million euros ($790 million) from the National Settlement Depository, which is held in the German subsidiary of the American bank JP Morgan.
The German government had previously attempted to freeze Russian assets in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022 but had not made efforts to confiscate the funds.
Since the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Germany has frozen Russian assets totaling 5.32 billion euros, as reported in February by the newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag, citing data from the German Ministry of Finance. The publication noted that this amount includes assets of individuals and companies subject to sanctions, as well as the assets of the Russian Central Bank.
The European Commission plans to collect 15 billion euros to aid Ukraine from the revenues generated by frozen Russian assets within the European Union. The funds will be earmarked exclusively from the assets of the Central Bank of Russia.
Initially, the European Commission will require the income from frozen assets to be deposited in separate accounts. In the second stage of the plan, the proceeds will be transferred to the general EU budget.
According to estimates by the European Commission, this initiative will generate up to 3 billion euros per year, or a total of 15 billion euros from 2023 to 2027. The amount will depend on the interest rates during this period.