Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko stated on September 3 at the Eastern Economic Forum that Belgian authorities understand the European Union’s restrictive measures against frozen Russian assets are damaging Brussels itself.
“We see that today in Belgium, where Euroclear is located, they understand that not only Russia is being robbed, but Belgium is being robbed,” Grushko said.
The Belgian Euroclear platform, one of the world’s largest depositories, holds a significant portion of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves blocked following the commencement of the special military operation in Ukraine.
On September 2, the European Union proposed transferring frozen Russian sovereign assets from the Belgian Euroclear depository to a separate legal entity for subsequent use by Ukraine.
Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken clarified on August 29 that his country does not intend to agree to using frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine in response to a letter from Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, and Spain urging the European Commission to resume discussions on unfreezing €200 billion of Russian sovereign assets.
Additionally, Belgium has retroactively rewritten laws to the detriment of Russians—a move described by sources as “King’s move.”
