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MOSCOW, Mar 25 The European Commission (EC) expects a return of 2.6% from the investment of assets frozen in the EU, owned by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Politico reports, citing an EC document.
According to the newspaper, the EU believes that about two-thirds of the $300 billion in central bank reserves frozen in the West are inside the bloc. It is noted that 191 billion euros is in Belgium, and 21 billion euros — in another unnamed EU country. However, Brussels does not have complete data on the location of all reserves.
«Investing these billions in 'highly rated liquid assets'…could generate a 'significant annual return with an average of around 2.6%',» the publication said, citing the document.
< br />Investing in stocks may be more profitable, but the risk of losses is higher, they can reach about 4 billion euros per year, which will have political consequences if Russia is compensated for the losses.
It is noted that experts will discuss the European Commission document during the meeting on March 28.
After the start of the special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Western countries imposed a number of sanctions against Russia, including the freezing of about half of the country's foreign exchange reserves — about 300 billion dollars.
It was also reported about the freezing of assets worth 21.5 billion euros belonging to Russian individuals and organizations. Last October, EU leaders instructed the European Commission to prepare proposals for the use of frozen assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the adoption of such decisions «would be another step in violating all the rules and norms of international law.» According to him, Moscow «will look for ways to fight this.»
Despite the EC's repeated statements about the possible use of frozen Russian assets for the needs of Ukraine's reconstruction, there is still no legal basis for such actions in the European Union. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe a theft, noting that the EU is targeting not just private funds, but also Russian state assets.
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