BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, which holds most of the Russian central bank assets frozen in Europe, can offset any seizure of its assets in Russia as a result of lawsuits with the Russian assets it holds in Belgium, a senior EU officials said.
Russia’s central bank said on Friday that plans by the European Union to use its assets to extend a loan to Ukraine were illegal and that it reserved the right to employ all available means to protect its interests.
In a separate statement, the central bank said it was suing Brussels-based financial institution Euroclear – which holds many of the assets – in a Moscow court over what it said were damaging actions, affecting its ability to dispose of its funds and securities.
“EU financial institutions holding these assets are fully protected from legal proceedings,” European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference.
“Under the current sanctions regime, CSDs can offset any seizure in Russia with immobilised assets held here,” he said.
He said the EU expected Russia to “continue to launch speculative legal proceedings to prevent EU from upholding international law”.
“This is why, both in our current sanctions regime, but also in the proposal that we made late week (on the use of Russian assets for Ukraine), we have included additional protection for EU institutions holding immobilised Russian central bank assets,” Dombrovskis said.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski)
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