Dutch banks unfreeze half billion euros of Russian assets - media
About 560 million euros of Russian assets have been unfrozen in the Netherlands.
According to Censor.NET, citing Ekonomichna Pravda, the local Telegraaf newspaper has documents sent to the parliament by Foreign Minister Kaspar Veldkam.
In January, the Dutch parliament announced that the total amount of frozen Russian assets would be €660 million, but by 1 July, 97.2 million had been blocked.
The unfreezing of the funds was "due to the granting of exemptions for outstanding payments and the removal of sanctioned owners", the document says.
A significant portion of this amount - €430 million - belongs to two Russian companies, as indicated in the annex to the document.
In particular, 230 million euros from a particular company were no longer subject to freezing, as the company was "formally detached" from its Russian owner through a special structure.
RTL writes that these two companies have the same Russian owner. The assets were unfrozen because structures were put in place to ensure that the ultimate owner has no influence over the companies and that money cannot end up in the hands of the sanctioned owner through indirect means.
The country's Ministry of Economy is checking whether these mechanisms comply with EU rules on "disengagement" of the owner.
What was the background?
As a reminder, the leaders of the Group of Seven countries agreed on a mechanism to provide $50 billion in aid to Ukraine through the use of frozen Russian assets. The funds are to be disbursed by the end of 2024, and the loan will be repaid from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.
According to the plan, the EU and the US will each take on about $20 billion, with the remaining $10 billion to be shared by the UK, Japan, and Canada.
At the same time, the United States is demanding guarantees that Russian assets, most of which are held in Europe, remain frozen.
Putin has called the plan "theft" and threatened that it "will not go unpunished."
