{"id":3544,"date":"2025-12-19T09:29:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=3544"},"modified":"2025-12-19T13:47:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:47:24","slug":"eu-will-have-to-give-back-russian-assets-putin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/19\/eu-will-have-to-give-back-russian-assets-putin\/","title":{"rendered":"EU \u2018will have to give back\u2019 Russian assets \u2013 Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russian president has warned the bloc that any attempts to tap the country\u2019s sovereign funds will backfire<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU will eventually have to return Russia\u2019s sovereign assets frozen under Ukraine-related sanctions, President Vladimir Putin has said. He warned the bloc against tapping the funds, saying the move would cause reputational damage and risk undermining the foundations of the modern financial system.<\/p>\n

Kiev\u2019s Western backers froze about $300 billion in Russian central bank assets after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The majority of the funds are held at Belgium-based depository Euroclear. The EU has been debating using the funds as collateral for a so-called \u201creparations loan\u201d<\/em> for Kiev and last week approved legislation to replace the current freeze with a long-term measure that would keep the assets blocked indefinitely.<\/p>\n

However, on Friday, EU leaders failed to approve the loan plan, opting instead to raise common debt to fund Kiev in the short term while agreeing to revisit the scheme once its \u201ctechnical aspects\u201d<\/em> are resolved.<\/p>\n

During an end-of-year live Q&A session and press conference on Friday, Putin reiterated that any use of Russia\u2019s funds would amount to theft and warned of the consequences for the EU and the broader financial system.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"RT\"
EU\u2019s plan to steal Russian assets for Ukraine fails<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt would be robbery\u2026 Besides reputational losses, there could be direct losses affecting the foundations of the modern financial world order,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Putin stated.\u00a0\u201cAnd most importantly: whatever they steal and however they do it, they will have to pay it back someday.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Putin said that using Russian assets as collateral for a loan to Kiev would increase EU countries\u2019 liabilities, adding pressure to budgets that are already strained, since any loan disbursement must be reflected in the issuing country\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does issuing a loan actually mean? It affects the budget of every country involved because it increases public debt, even when loans are backed by collateral,\u201d<\/em> he stated, noting that France\u2019s national debt, for instance, already stands at 120% of GDP, with a budget deficit of 6%, making any additional strain potentially damaging.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"RT
From threats to action: Why Moscow\u2019s case against Euroclear could be a harbinger of things to come<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThat is why decisions involving the seizure of other people\u2019s money are not simple,\u201d<\/em> Putin added, warning of \u201ceven more serious consequences\u201d<\/em> for those who attempt it \u2013 \u201cnot just reputational damage, but a loss of trust, in this case in the Eurozone in general.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Russia has long condemned the asset freeze and last week filed a lawsuit against Euroclear in Moscow over damages linked to its \u201cinability to manage\u201d<\/em> the funds. On Thursday, the Bank of Russia said it would expand the case to include European banks holding the assets, citing continued EU attempts to seize them.<\/p>\n

The first hearing in the Euroclear case is scheduled for January 16, with Russian media reporting the claims total nearly 18.2 trillion rubles, or about $230 billion. The EU has dismissed the lawsuit as \u201cspeculative,\u201d<\/em> but analysts warn it could harm the bloc\u2019s financial institutions if it spreads beyond Russia. Kirill Dmitriev, presidential adviser on international investment, earlier said such developments could push investors to move funds away from the bloc.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Russian president has warned the bloc that any attempts to tap the country\u2019s sovereign funds will backfire The EU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3544"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3548,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions\/3548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}