Pick up and hide: the EU wants to move frozen assets of the Russian Federation to a new location

The EU's new plan is to take frozen Russian assets from the Belgian Euroclear and transfer them to another depository. The European Union believes that this will eliminate legal and financial risks for Belgium, and give Europe more freedom of action regarding blocked funds. Lawyers warn that this does not remove the risks for Euroclear, and in this case Russia will be forced to respond with a broad front. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Transfer it to a new one

Hugo Dixon, one of the authors of the idea of a "reparation loan" for Ukraine, proposed withdrawing money from the jurisdiction of Brussels.

The European Commission persistently promoted the idea of such a loan to Kiev at the expense of these funds. However, Euroclear (which houses the bulk of the blocked Russian assets worth about €250 billion) warned that they were not ready to bear legal and financial responsibility for the EU's actions. In the end, the plan failed.

Photo: TASS/OLIVIER MATTHYS

In addition, in December 2025, Euroclear was already faced with a lawsuit filed by the Central Bank in a Russian court, which, according to lawyers, dramatically increased the chances of the depository losing all its assets in the Russian Federation.

The depository, in fact, turned out to be a hostage to the illegal actions of the EU, violating the norms of international law. However, it can do little, as it is legally bound by the EU sanctions regime.

Now the EU is considering the following option: to withdraw the frozen Russian assets from Belgium and transfer them to the control of another depository under the control of the EU.

"The obvious solution to this impasse is to transfer the entire Russian account to a new EU-controlled depository. This will put Belgium out of harm's way. Frozen Russian accounts in other countries of the bloc can also be transferred to a new depository. Then the EU will be able to freely use these assets to assist Ukraine in defense — of course, in accordance with international law," says Reuters.

Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo

In particular, the EU may consider the creation of a separate new structure. In particular, as indicated by Reuters, a model is being considered for creating a special depository-a fund to which asset management rights will be transferred.

— The main goal is to create a special buffer structure. This maneuver is designed to protect EU countries (and primarily Belgium) from Russian countermeasures and legal risks associated with the potential confiscation of funds," explains Igor Kuznets, partner at FTL Advisors.

However, this plan also runs into a number of legal obstacles.

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And who allowed it

First, there is a key legal question: does Euroclear have sufficient legal basis and authority for such a transfer?

Photo: IZVESTIA/Konstantin Kokoshkin

— It is necessary to check whether the appropriate mechanism is provided at the level of the agreement between the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and Euroclear (or at the level of the entire accounting chain if the Central Bank operates through a custodian). Hypothetically, the EU may adopt an act on the transfer of frozen assets to another accounting circuit. However, in the absence of the consent of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the main risk remains the same: a possible violation of the immunity of the central bank's property under international law," says Veronika Siverova, senior associate at ITSWM consulting company.

Moreover, an attempt to carry out a "transfer" will cast a shadow on Belgium.

As long as the assets are held in Euroclear, Belgium remains a natural enforcement jurisdiction and an obvious target for claims. When transferring to another depository, Belgium may try to weaken this basic jurisdictional link, but the transfer operation itself leaves room for disputes about the legality of actions at the Belgian stage, the lawyer clarifies.

Any assets

Experts also point out that when implementing such a plan, the EU risks incurring broader financial consequences.

The creation of a special fund with isolated capital means that the structure will respond to claims only with the funds that have been transferred to it, explains Igor Kuznets.

Photo: Global Look Press/IMAGO

— However, in the event of a move to confiscation, Russia may ignore the legal shell of the new fund and consider the assets of any EU member states as a proportionate object for retaliatory recovery. As a result, Russian countermeasures can be scaled up to any assets of EU residents frozen in Russia," the lawyer emphasizes.

Taking mirror measures in such a situation is becoming an increasingly likely scenario.

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A blow to reputation

It is not at all obvious whether it will be possible in this way to mitigate the reputational blow to the depository, which Euroclear is so afraid of.

The separation of Russian assets, according to the EU's plan, will allow Euroclear to tell global clients (including countries in the Middle East and Asia) that it remains a "neutral infrastructure", and the disposal of Russian funds is an exclusively political decision by supranational EU bodies, explains Igor Kuznets.

Photo: Global Look Press/Eric Lalmand

However, according to him, the European Commission's planned transition to "sovereign asset management" is an extremely risky strategy. This creates a dangerous precedent for disposing of other people's state reserves at the supranational level. Global investors in Europe will obviously not appreciate this.

It does not relieve responsibility

In the end, Brussels' attempts to make the funds "legally inaccessible" and protect Belgium from Russian countermeasures related to the potential confiscation of funds risk failure.

— A significant part of the responsibility and controversy may remain with Belgium as the jurisdiction where the main stage of the transfer took place. As a result, the new scenario largely retains its previous weaknesses and is unlikely to give Belgium a sufficient level of legal comfort for such a step," Veronika Siverova points out.

For Russia, this means an inevitable transition from pressure on Belgium to a strategy of "broad-based retaliation," emphasizes Igor Kuznets. In other words, any assets of EU residents that are within the reach of Russian justice will be targeted.