BRUSSELS, October 30. /TASS/. The European Commission (EC) has received about €8 billion in revenue generated from the reinvestment of frozen Russian sovereign assets held at Belgium-based Euroclear since 2024, according to the depository’s report.
The latest tranche of €1.4 billion was transferred to the EC in August.
The report notes that the EC received a "significant portion" of the total sum rather than the full amount, confirming that Belgium taxes these earnings. The newspaper Le Soir previously reported that this tax rate reaches 30%.
The EC maintains that appropriating the interest is lawful, arguing that it "does not belong to Russia." The scheme was developed under former European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, who became embroiled in a major money-laundering scandal in Belgium immediately after his mandate ended in late 2024. Commenting on the EC’s approach, a TASS source in Belgian legal circles previously noted it was equivalent to claiming that "interest on a bank deposit does not belong to the account holder."
In December 2025, the Russian Central Bank filed an 18.2-trillion-ruble ($225.5 bln) lawsuit against Euroclear with the Moscow Arbitration Court amid EU plans to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine. This sum includes frozen funds, the value of blocked securities, and lost profits. The EU and G7 countries have frozen about €300 billion in Russian assets, with around €180 billion held at Euroclear.
On May 15, 2026, the court ruled in favor of the Russian Central Bank, ordering the recovery of 18.2 trillion rubles ($225.5 bln) from Euroclear Bank. On May 20, the Bank of Russia petitioned the court for immediate enforcement of the judgment.
