FT learned that the EU did not start negotiations on the exchange of frozen assets

There are no talks between RUSSIA and the EU on a potential swap of the frozen assets, sources told the FT. On the preparation of a decree on the exchange of blocked assets for 100 billion rubles. Siluanov said the day before

The European Union is not negotiating with Russia on the exchange of frozen assets, according to the Financial Times, citing four senior EU officials .

One of the interlocutors of the agency said that detailed negotiations on this issue are hardly possible in the near future.

The day before, on August 22, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on national projects that the government and the Bank of Russia had prepared a draft presidential decree on the exchange of blocked assets of Russians for assets of foreign investors, which are accounted for in special type C accounts. Siluanov noted that about 100 billion rubles could be unlocked at the first stage.

On August 23, the Bank of Russia disclosed the details of plans for the exchange of frozen assets. The Central Bank explained that at the initial stage, the mechanism involves the creation of conditions for unlocking the assets of retail investors. "Interested foreign investors will be given the opportunity to purchase from Russian investors the corresponding" blocked "foreign securities at the expense of funds held on accounts of type "C", - said the representative of the Central Bank. The participation of investors in the asset swap will be voluntary.

Special type “C” accounts were created by the Bank of Russia to fulfill the obligations of residents to non-residents, established in Vladimir Putin’s Decree No. 95 dated March 5, 2022 “On the temporary procedure for fulfilling obligations to certain foreign creditors”. Such an account is intended for carrying out transactions for the purchase and sale of foreign currency by a non-resident for rubles.

The Central Bank disclosed the accumulated amount on accounts of type “C” only once - as of November 2022, it was estimated at 280 billion rubles. According to Interfax sources, at the end of 2022, the total assets in C accounts were already approaching 600 billion rubles.

A possible asset swap between Russian and foreign investors became known at the end of 2022. In October, the DIRECTOR of the investment financial intermediaries department of the Bank of Russia, Olga Shishlyannikova, reported that the Central Bank was considering the option of exchanging frozen assets between Russian and foreign investors for mutual unblocking. Under this option, securities owned by foreigners and blocked in the Russian circuit, and papers of Russians and payments blocked by foreign depositories can be used as an exchange fund, she explained.

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According to the Central Bank, the total amount of assets blocked due to sanctions, which belong to Russian legal entities and individuals, at the end of November 2022 amounted to 5.7 trillion rubles. In July last year, the regulator reported that more than 5 million private investors had blocked assets. In May 2023, the HEAD of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, estimated the total amount of assets that Russian investors managed to return as a result of counter-sanction measures at 3 trillion rubles.