The European Union will receive a second tranche of 2 billion euros ($2.05 billion) from profits generated by frozen Russian Central Bank assets that are meant for Ukraine and its war effort.
Euroclear, the Belgian-based clearing house, sent its first payment of 1.55 billion euros ($1.7 billion) last July after the EU passed legislation that applied a windfall tax to the profits generated by Russia's assets immobilized in response to the full-scale invasion.
The clearing house said in a statement on Feb. 5 that the second payment is expected to be made in March and should amount to approximately 2 billion euros.
Euroclear earned 6.9 billion euros ($7.18 billion) in 2024 from frozen Russian assets, the statement says. In 2023, these revenues amounted to 4.4 billion euros ($4.6 million).
From the proceeds of the frozen Russian assets in 2024, 1.7 billion euros ($1.77 billion) was transferred to the Belgian budget as tax revenues.
In reaction to Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, more than $300 billion of the foreign exchange reserve assets of the central bank of the Russian Federation were frozen in Europe.
Most of these funds —191 billion euros ($198 million) — are kept in the international depository Euroclear in Belgium.
The Group of Seven countries agreed last year on a $50 billion loan that will be paid back using the profits generated from frozen assets.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
