France freezes 850 million euros of Russian assets

France has seized around 850 million euros ($920 million) of Russian oligarchs’ assets on its soil, Finance Minister Bruno Le Mair said Sunday.”We have immobilised…150 million euros in individual’s accounts, credit lines in France and in French establishments,” Le Mair told French television as Paris hits Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Furthermore,”we have immobilised 539 million euros in real estate on French territory, corresponding to some 390 properties or apartments and we have sequestered two yatchs (with a value of) 150 million euros,” said Le Mair. “In total, that is almost 850 million euros in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs which have been immobilised in French soil,” he added.

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The French crackdown means the owners are unable to sell on or to monetize their assets. Notwithstanding, “they are not seized in the sense that the state becomes the owner and could sell them on. For there to be a seizure, there has to be a penal offence,” Le Mair stipulated.

“The sanctions are hitting Russia, the state, Vladimir Putin hard,” Le Mair went on. Since Russia began its war in Ukraine on February 24, Western states have responded with a wide-ranging package of stiff financial sanctions.

On Friday, Russia’s central bank said that the extent of the sanctions would make macro economic forecasting “extremely difficult.” Four days after the invasion began, Moscow hiked its main interest rate from 9.5 to 20 percent and the response to the conflict has largely cut Russia’s financial sector off from the global economy.

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