The Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, which holds most of the Russian central bank's assets frozen in Europe, can compensate for any seizures of its assets in Russia resulting from Russian lawsuits using Russian assets held in Belgium, a senior EU official said. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
Details
The Russian central bank said on Friday that the EU's plans to use its assets to provide a loan to Ukraine are illegal and that it reserves the right to use all available means to protect its interests.
"EU financial institutions holding these assets are fully protected from prosecution," EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a press conference.
"Under the current sanctions regime, central depositories can compensate for any seizures in Russia using frozen assets held here," he added.
He also noted that the EU expects Russia to "continue to launch speculative lawsuits to prevent the EU from complying with international law."
"That is why - both in our current sanctions regime and in the proposal we presented last week on the use of Russian assets for Ukraine - we have included additional protection mechanisms for European institutions holding frozen assets of the Russian central bank," Dombrovskis noted.
Recall
The Russian central bank filed a lawsuit against the Belgian depository Euroclear regarding frozen Russian assets. The lawsuit will be heard in the Moscow arbitration court, where the central bank accuses Euroclear of causing damage due to the inability to dispose of funds and securities.