This was announced at a briefing on Thursday by European Commission spokesperson Christian Wiegand, reports European Pravda.
According to Wiegand, as of now, the assets of Russian individuals and legal entities under EU sanctions amounting to about EUR 24.1 billion have been frozen in the EU. The sanctions do not provide for the confiscation of these assets, as this violates the law.
The European Commission representative clarified that significant progress has been achieved through ongoing discussions with other EU institutions regarding the proposal to criminalize the breach of EU restrictive measures. This proposal aims to enable the confiscation of assets in instances where sanctions are evaded, all in accordance with criminal law.
As for the state-owned assets of the Central Bank of Russia, they also cannot be simply confiscated, but the European Commission proposed a different way at the end of last year.
Wiegand explained that the intention is to utilize these assets and profits from them, as they cannot be confiscated due to legal restrictions. However, it is possible to work with these assets based on the legal opinion.
On May 10, the US Attorney General for the first time allowed the transfer of confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine.