Belgium’s prime minister Bart De Wever has called for Russian assets frozen since the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine to remain in the Euroclear securities depository in Belgium.
De Wever made the call on Tuesday, cautioning that seizing them to aid Ukraine would present major legal hurdles in future.
G7 nations have immobilized around $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets since Moscow’s 2022 invasion. The European Union estimates that €210 billion ($246 billion) of this sum is held within the bloc, largely in government bonds at Euroclear.
“A significant share of these funds is blocked in Brussels at Euroclear. I am aware that some governments are seeking to confiscate the money. But I would warn that this is not straightforward from a legal standpoint,” he told reporters at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin.
De Wever noted that the assets include Russian central bank reserves, which enjoy legal immunity. He warned that any attempt to seize them by political decree could trigger serious repercussions.
“Other states would also withdraw their sovereign funds. This could have systemic consequences and poses grave legal risks. I believe these state funds should remain immobilised,” he said.
He added that using profits generated by the assets to support Ukraine was acceptable, but stressed that the principal should remain untouched.
“It is like a goose that lays golden eggs. We must preserve the goose. Ultimately, when a peace treaty is discussed, then the goose can be placed on the table … Until that moment, it is prudent to maintain the current position,” he remarked.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been spearheading a renewed drive to bring the three-and-a-half-year conflict to an end.
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met on Tuesday with a delegation from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, marking the first visit to Ukraine by the group’s president, Pere Joan Pons.
Türkiye’s benchmark stock index, the BIST 100, closed Tuesday at 10,814.11 points, up 0.74% from the previous session.
The European Parliament has passed new legislation making it easier to suspend visa-free travel for nationals of third countries found to violate human rights or ignore international court rulings.
Two years after the Gaza conflict began, President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged United States backing for Gaza’s security guarantees and said he believed an agreement to free the remaining hostages was nearing completion.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
The newly elected mayor of Herdecke in northwestern Germany, Social Democrat Iris Stalzer, was seriously injured in a knife attack near her home by an unknown assailant or assailants.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met on Tuesday with a delegation from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, marking the first visit to Ukraine by the group’s president, Pere Joan Pons.
The European Parliament has passed new legislation making it easier to suspend visa-free travel for nationals of third countries found to violate human rights or ignore international court rulings.
Two years after the Gaza conflict began, President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged United States backing for Gaza’s security guarantees and said he believed an agreement to free the remaining hostages was nearing completion.
At least 15 people have been killed after a rain-triggered landslide sent huge boulders crashing onto a private bus in India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday evening.
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