Russian investors' assets frozen in foreign infrastructure are currently estimated at 5.7 trillion rubles ($81 billion), with over 20% of the funds owned by retail investors, Russian Central Bank official Olga Shishlyannikova said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st January, 2023) Russian investors' assets frozen in foreign infrastructure are currently estimated at 5.7 trillion rubles ($81 billion), with over 20% of the funds owned by retail investors, Russian Central Bank official Olga Shishlyannikova said on Tuesday.
"As of November 30, we have 5.7 trillion rubles of frozen assets, of which slightly more than 20% are owned by retail investors. It is a very difficult story, which was taken into account when deciding to prohibit unqualified investors from acquiring relevant securities in the future," Shishlyannikova, who heads the bank's Investment Finance Intermediation Department, said at a conference called "Russian financial market in the face of global challenges."
Western countries have frozen Russia's foreign currency reserves, halted international payments from Russian banks and disconnected them from the SWIFT system as part of sanctions against Moscow after it launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
In October, EU leaders instructed the European Commission to prepare proposals on the use of Russia's frozen assets to finance the restoration of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly said that the European Union's attempts to confiscate frozen Russian assets is an expropriation of property, a violation of the European Constitution and international law.
