MOSCOW, October 27 — RIA Novosti. The Russian asset scam will be a disaster for the EU after Moscow wins the conflict with Kiev, Unherd reported.
"Peace negotiations will include more than just territorial issues and security guarantees. Russia will want to reclaim its confiscated assets," the publication states.
The author of the article stated that if the assets are confiscated, Europe will have no chance of striking a deal with Russia by refusing to return these funds. In that case, the burden of returning the money to Moscow will fall on the shoulders of European taxpayers, who never even agreed to participate in this scheme.
Furthermore, the article notes that Europe has no strategy to end the conflict, while Russia has both financial and human advantages.
The situation with frozen funds.
Following the launch of the special operation, the EU and G7 countries blocked approximately 300 billion euros of Russia's foreign exchange reserves, of which more than 200 billion are held in the European Union, primarily in accounts in the Euroclear clearing system.
Welt am Sonntag previously reported that from January to July, the EU transferred €10.1 billion to Ukraine from proceeds from frozen funds of the Bank of Russia. In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed providing Kyiv with a new loan secured by these assets, specifying that Ukraine would repay the loan only after Russia paid "reparations."
Moscow has repeatedly called such initiatives theft. The Foreign Ministry emphasized that this concerns not only private but also Russian state assets.
In response, Moscow imposed mirror restrictions: funds of foreign investors from unfriendly countries are transferred to special type "C" accounts, and can only be withdrawn with the permission of a government commission.