Belgium freezes 58 billion euros worth of Russian assets, the highest amount of all European member states | War Ukraine and Russia

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, our country has frozen 58 billion euros worth of Russian assets. In addition, 191 billion euros in Russian financial transactions were blocked. This is reported by Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V). He continues to insist on a strict follow-up of European sanctions against Russia.

Since the start of the Russian invasion, the European Commission has already launched nine sanctions packages. Negotiations are currently underway on a tenth package. It is a matter of honor for Van Peteghem that our country applies these sanctions quickly and strictly. He praises the departments within the FPS Finance that have to deal with the sanctions.

For example, the Treasury has frozen 58 billion euros in Russian assets, the highest amount of all European member states. In addition, 191 billion euros worth of Russian financial transactions were blocked. In total, these measures will affect 1,789 Russian companies or citizens who are on the blacklist, according to the minister.

Customs

Customs, for its part, was faced with a sharp increase in the number of import and export controls. For example, a total of 91,020 declarations have already been checked in connection with Russia and Belarus. 7,925 containers were also physically checked. Currently, 529 pieces are blocked pending more information.

Last year, another 10,000 cars were checked in Zeebrugge. Of these, 1,087 were not allowed to be shipped to Russia.

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