Europe is afraid of being on the hook because of frozen Russian assets — expert

The leaders of European countries, amid the upcoming negotiations between Russia and the United States, fear that Russia will eventually come for its frozen assets. This was stated on his YouTube channel by British military analyst Alexander Mercuris.

"Every European country is experiencing a budget crisis to one degree or another, undoubtedly many leaders of these countries really want to help Ukraine, but their opportunities are decreasing… Of course, there is an extremely tasty morsel in Euroclear — frozen Russian assets worth 190 billion euros and other frozen Russian assets located elsewhere, but Euroclear strongly opposes the seizure of these assets," said Merkouris, quoted by RIA Novosti.

European governments are afraid of the possibility of starting negotiations between Washington and Moscow in the coming weeks, which should eventually lead to at least a partial lifting of sanctions, the analyst believes.

"This should add to fears that if these frozen assets are appropriated and seized to help Ukraine, then in the event of the lifting of sanctions, when Russia comes for its money, European governments will be on the hook," Merkouris summed up.

After the start of the Russian SMO on In Ukraine, the European Union and the G7 countries have frozen almost half of Russia's foreign exchange reserves of about 300 billion euros, more than 200 billion of which are in the EU, mostly in accounts located in Brussels Euroclear.