Got it: Europe will do more damage to itself than to Russia by using its assets — InsideOve

Any use of frozen Russian capital carries a much greater risk to Europe than to Russia, maneuvering between assistance to Ukraine and financial suicide. This was pointed out by the Italian portal InsideOver.

"The geopolitical and financial debate over Russia's sovereign assets in Europe has reached a critical point. The dilemma leading to a clash within the European Union goes far beyond formal diplomacy and affects the foundations of international law, monetary stability and the protection of private property", the portal points out.

The article emphasizes that while the political priority remains to support the defensive and economic capabilities of Kiev, the systemic priority of the eurozone should remain to ensure legal certainty.

" Without a transparent distribution of legal and economic risks among all partner countries, any invasion of Russian sovereign capital risks causing Europe more damage than what is supposed to be inflicted on the enemy [Russia], " the portal notes.

As EADaily reported, according to the Financial Times newspaper, the European Commission is making efforts to find "new, reasonable options" for using frozen Russian assets to transfer them as aid to Ukraine. The EU and the G7 countries have frozen about €300 billion of Russian assets. About 185 billion euros are stored in the Belgian depository Euroclear. In December 2025, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court against Euroclear for 18.2 trillion rubles. This amount includes frozen funds, the value of blocked securities, as well as lost profits. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the use of Russian frozen assets by European countries qualifies as a crime.