NEW YORK, December 10. /TASS/. Confiscation of seized Russian assets is associated with serious risks for the Euroclear depository and the financial stability of Europe, Valerie Urbain, the chief executive officer of Euroclear, said in an interview with Bloomberg.
"We cannot be in the situation whereby the assets have been seized, but, in a couple of years, Russia comes and knocks at the door and says. <…> If there is a confiscation of assets, everything should move, liabilities included," she stressed.
According to the head of Euroclear, the use of the sanctioned Russian assets to provide aide to Ukraine, as proposed by the EU, could undermine confidence in the existing international financial system and create a dangerous precedent. Some clients, including representatives of China, have already expressed concern about such initiatives, Urbain noted.
She also added that such actions could damage the role of the euro as a reserve currency and contribute to the creation of alternative financial platforms capable of competing with Euroclear.
In late October, the European Union adopted a package of regulations approving the allocation of 35 billion euros in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine, part of a broader loan package from the G7 for a total of 45 billion euros. The loans will be repaid using revenues earned from the reinvestment of Russian assets the European Commission illegally seized on the territory of the EU countries.
The term of repayment for these loans is 45 years. By doing this, Brussels is telling the G7 countries, primarily the United States, that it will not unfreeze Russian assets for at least another 45 years. According to the EC, the amount of assets seized in the EU is about 220 billion euros.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed earlier that "the collective West is no stranger to robbing entire countries and continents." However, according to her, "all the fuss around illegally appropriated Russian funds will lead only to a complete loss of what global trust remains in the EU as a trade, economic and investment partner and further indebt future generations of Ukrainian residents."
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned that Russia would take retaliatory steps if income from Russian assets were transferred to Ukraine. Since the start of military action in Ukraine, assets worth about $280 billion (260 billion euros, most of which are at the disposal of the Belgian financial group Euroclear) have been blocked in the G7 and EU countries, as well as in Australia.