Russia must take legal action against Belgium and the securities firm Euroclear if Russian blocked assets are seized, according to a resolution approved by the Russian parliament on Thursday, Russian media report.
The European Commission is working on a plan to provide Ukraine with a recovery loan of approximately €140 billion based on the Russian central bank's blocked cash, which is primarily stored at Euroclear in Brussels.
Belgium is very reluctant to do so due to the legal and financial risks, and the country demands that all EU Member States bear the costs. The Commission is attempting to address these concerns and also assures that the plan does not amount to confiscation of the assets.
However, the Russian parliament disagrees. In a resolution adopted by the lower house of parliament on Thursday, the proposal is called "an illegal seizure of property" that could be considered "outright theft."
"Any attack on Russian assets must be met with the appropriate legal response, starting with claims for damages against Euroclear and Belgium," the text also states, according to Russian media.
Plan of retaliation
Additionally, "assets of foreigners from enemy states must be able to be used as a source of compensation." Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia has seized tens of billions of dollars' worth of assets from foreigners, including those from the Russian operations of Western companies such as the French food company Danone and the Danish brewer Carlsberg.
Russia had previously threatened retaliation; Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday that the government has an action plan ready to respond to the seizure of Russian assets.
"We have definitely developed a plan of retaliation within the government," he stated, according to the state news agency TASS.
The Commission sees the recovery loan as the most efficient way to support Ukraine over the next two years. The country is expected to need over €70 billion in foreign aid next year, and another €64 billion in 2027.
However, at the request of the Member States – led by Belgium – it has also put forward two other options: an agreement on bilateral contributions to Ukraine by the member states or a joint European loan.
The heads of state and government will reconsider this issue during the European summit on 18 and 19 December.
'Solid guarantees'
In Parliament on Thursday, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) reiterated that he will not deviate from his position regarding the blocked Russian assets held by the securities firm Euroclear.
De Wever addressed the letter that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sent on Monday to the heads of state and government of the 27 Member States to keep Ukraine financially afloat after more than three years of war with Russia.
In the letter, she listed a number of guarantees intended to reassure Belgium's Federal Government about the use of blocked cash from the Russian central bank for a loan to Ukraine. The letter was drafted after consultations with De Wever on Friday.
If the EU chooses to tap these assets to finance Ukraine, De Wever reiterated in Parliament that Belgium will "never agree" to this option without "solid guarantees" and "contractually agreed-upon risk coverage" from the other Member States and possibly non-EU countries.
De Wever also stated that it is "essential" that it covers "the entire amount and the entire risk, and the entire period during which we would bear the risk."
Of the two other options von der Leyen put forward in the letter to finance Ukraine, De Wever prefers one in which the European Union would jointly borrow on the financial markets, with the European budget as collateral.
Another option is for the European Member States to finance Ukraine directly, but De Wever noted that enthusiasm for this among those Member States is "rather limited."
