The German Ministry of Finance says 3.9 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in assets belonging to Russian entities are frozen in Germany. Such assets include money, shareholdings, even yachts held by persons, organizations, or entities under sanctions.
The figure has currently been reduced from an estimate of €5.2 billion last June, while the change is being attributed to the changes in the market and some changes in the sanctions list, under which the EU has delisted some individuals or entities.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently floated the option to use the money from the safeguarded Russian funds in the EU for the purchase of arms for Ukraine worldwide. That is 90 percent, several billions of euros annually, towards Ukrainian defense initiatives.
The European Commission estimates that around €210 billion from the Russian central bank is frozen across the EU. The interest on these funds is also accumulating, all the time. Euroclear, the Brussels-based financial institution, revealed that it received interest income of about €4.4 billion in relation to Russia sanctions for 2023.
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