EU has frozen 35 billion euros in assets over Russia's invasion

EUROPEAN UNION (EU) countries froze 35 billion euros (S$51.7 billion) of assets in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine during the first 5 ½ weeks of the war, with France topping the list, having frozen goods and capital worth 23.5 billion euros.

Germany, the EU's largest economy, trailed France, seizing assets worth 341,600 euros, according to a European Commission assessment dated Apr 5, the most recent such evaluation. The week following this assessment, Berlin impounded Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov's superyacht Dilbar, which was valued at US$600 million to US$750 million.

The majority of the French allocation -- 22.8 billion euros -- involved Russian central bank funds. In the days following Russia's Feb 24 invasion, the EU banned all transactions with the central bank in an effort to isolate Moscow's economy and financial system. Russia has about US$640 billion in reserves.

The decision to hit the central bank was a first for an economy the size of Russia's, and was an attempt to starve Moscow of cash and deprive monetary policymakers of the hard currency needed to support the ruble in the foreign-exchange market. It was also seen as a way to potentially limit Russia's ability to finance its war.

A spokesperson for the commission, the EU's executive arm, declined to comment on the document.

Belgium had asset freezes worth 10 billion euros, which includes the impact of disconnecting 7 Russian banks from the Swift international payments system such as VTB Bank and Bank Rossiya, according to an official who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential.

Italy's total was 1.1 billion euros, with frozen assets including yachts and real estate in Sardinia and Tuscany. Ireland accounted for asset freezes worth 839 million euros, the Netherlands for 516 million euros and Denmark for 4,195 euros.

Numbers for several member states were unavailable, including for Spain and Hungary. BLOOMBERG