The Belgian Ministry of Finance announced the technical start of the confiscation of Russian assets

Belgian Finance Minister Vincent van Peteghem said that the European Union has begun work at a technical level to seize the frozen assets of the Bank of Russia. We are talking about $300 billion.

“We have analyzed the proposals received in December from the European Commission and the head of  EU diplomacy and confirmed our firm intention to move quickly on this issue. Work at the technical level has already begun and we intend to make rapid progress,” the minister wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

After the outbreak of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine in 2022, the European Union froze Russian assets located in Europe for $300 billion. The same amount was mentioned by the head of the Russian Ministry of Finance , Anton Siluanov.

On January 6, 2024, the President of Ukraine called on allies to speed up the transfer of assets to Kyiv. Discussion of the bill necessary for this is scheduled for February 2024, should begin before the second anniversary of the start of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. The transfer of assets may be a measure taken as additional financial assistance to Kyiv. The Kremlin promised to respond in the same way to the seizure of its assets.