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The French authorities, as part of the sanctions imposed against Russia because of its military special operation in Ukraine, froze the funds of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the amount of 22 billion euros, as well as the accounts and real estate of individuals who fell under the sanctions. French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire announced this today on air of RTL radio station.
According to him, real estate with a total value of “half a billion euros”, which in total is owned by about 30 Russians, fell under the “freeze”, TASS reports.
Earlier it became known that the authorities of the Netherlands froze Russian assets worth more than 200 million euros (about $220 million) due to sanctions.
March 13 in an interview with the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” on the TV channel “Russia-1”, the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov stated that half of the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia – about $ 300 billion – were frozen due to sanctions.
And the next day, he said that the freezing of foreign currency accounts of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the government, undertaken as part of anti-Russian sanctions, can be regarded as the desire of a number of foreign countries to organize an artificial default of Russia.
Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”
In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.
Thus, in particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.
Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.
You can follow the chronicle of events around Ukraine here.
Source: Rosbalt
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
