Merz Allows for Confiscation of Russian Assets ‘on a Legal Basis’

EU to confiscate frozen Russian assets if it finds legal basis, German Chancellor says Macron claims Europe lacks legal basis for doing so Moscow has warned it would consider such moves theft Friedrich Merz

Berlin and its allies will make efforts to confiscate frozen Russian assets if this is legally possible, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in an interview with the Zeit newspaper.

"If there is a way to raise money on a sound legal basis, we will do it," he said ( quoted byREUTERS ), adding that the possibility of confiscating Russian assets "is currently being clarified."

Merz added that Europe is also discussing the introduction of additional sanctions against RUSSIA that would affect the energy and banking sectors, as well as a number of individuals.

Since the start of the military operation in Ukraine , the EU, G7 and Australia have frozen about $280 billion (€260 billion) of assets of the Russian Central Bank. Most of them are in the Belgian depository Euroclear. In 2024 , the EU approved the use of windfall taxes on income from frozen Russian assets to finance €50 billion in aid to Ukraine over the next three years.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that there is no legal basis in Europe for the confiscation of blocked Russian assets. On the European Commission's (EC) plans to legalize this procedureBLOOMBERG reported back in the fall of 2022. The legislative possibility of seizing funds will allow them to be used to restore Ukraine after the end of hostilities, the agency specified. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reported on negotiations with the West on this matter. In February 2024, Kiev estimated the damage at $1 trillion. EC President Ursula von der Leyen called the EU's goal confiscation, not freezing, of Russian assets.

Russia considers any Western sanctions illegal and insists on their lifting. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that it would consider any actions with frozen assets theft.

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