EU plan to move frozen Russian money into riskier investments is ‘expropriation'
In an interview with the Financial Times published Wednesday, Euroclear Chief Executive Valerie Urbain said such a move could expose the EU's financial system to both legal and systemic risks.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the US and EU have frozen more than $300 billion in Russian state assets. In May, the EU approved a plan to channel profits from those assets to support Ukraine, while some member states have pushed for outright confiscation.
Some $213 billion of the assets are held by Euroclear. The securities depository is currently reinvesting proceeds from Russia's maturing assets – such as coupon payments and redemptions – primarily through central banks. The G7 is using those returns to support a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.
However, as profits have declined following interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank, the European Commission is reportedly considering moving the funds into higher-yield investments to boost Kiev's funding.
Urbain has warned that seeking higher returns could lead to retaliation from Moscow and compromise Euroclear's central role in the global financial system. 'If you increase the revenues, you increase the risks.'
Last year, Euroclear transferred €4 billion ($4.3 billion) to Ukraine, and so far this year it has paid €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion), according to Urbain. She said the EU may try to raise those amounts by creating a 'special purpose vehicle' to channel Russian assets into higher-risk investments that could bring 'more revenues.'
She cautioned that such a structure would involve 'a lot of risks for Euroclear and for the European markets globally.' Legally, she said, the move would constitute 'expropriation of the cash from Euroclear' without relieving the institution of its liability to the Russian central bank, 'a position that we cannot bear.'
Moscow has repeatedly warned that seizing its funds would violate international law. Legal and political concerns - particularly over sovereign immunity and property rights - have so far prevented the EU from endorsing full confiscation.
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