Council decides to prohibit transfers of immobilised Central Bank of Russia assets back to Russia 19:35 The Council has decided to temporarily prohibit transfers of immobilised[...]

The Council today decided to prohibit, on a temporary basis, any transfers of Central Bank of Russia assets immobilised in the EU back to Russia. This decision was taken as a matter of urgency to limit damage to the Union's economy.

In the absence of such a prohibition, any additional resources would be directly used by Russia to finance its war of aggression against Ukraine with serious consequences for the economy of the European Union and its member states. It would exacerbate the risk of an escalation of hybrid belligerent activities targeted against the member states and in the territory of the EU, thereby deepening economic difficulties in the Union. It would also risk prolonging and aggravating economic uncertainty and require a greater fiscal response from the member states.

Concretely, the regulation agreed today prohibits, on a temporary basis, any direct or indirect transfer of assets or reserves of the Central Bank of Russia, or of any legal person, entity or body acting on behalf of, or at the direction of, the Central Bank of Russia, such as the Russian National Wealth Fund.

The measures are temporary and should be maintained as long as the making available of significant financial and other resources to Russia to continue its actions in the context of its war of aggression against Ukraine poses, or threatens to pose, serious economic difficulties within the Union and the member states and the risk of causing further serious deterioration of the economic situation in the Union and in the member states persists.