EU freezes Russian assets for 68B euros

The EU has frozen a total of €68 billion in Russian assets - most of which are in Belgium, according to an internal Commission document seen by POLITICO, Report informs.

The wide-ranging paper, covering all parts of the Commission’s interactions with Ukraine, was obtained by Playbook’s own Jakob Hanke Vela.

Belgium accounts for €50 billion of the €68 billion figure, Paola Tamma writes in to report. Luxembourg is second with €5.5 billion. Together with Italy, Germany, Ireland, Austria and France, they account for over 90 percent of the frozen assets.

But the EU doesn’t know how much of Russia’s national reserves is frozen in the EU. The internal document gives the approximate figure of €33.8 billion, but adds that “this is now under assessment, so not to be quoted.”