France freezes 850 million euros of Russian assets

FE Team | Published: March 21, 2022 00:35:24

PARIS, March 20 (AFP): France has seized around 850 million euros ($920 million) of Russian oligarchs' assets on its soil, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday.
"We have immobilised ... 150 million euros in individual's accounts, credit lines in France and in French establishments, " Le Maire 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 yachts (with a value of) 150 million euros," said Le Maire.
"In total that is (almost) 850 million euros in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs which have been immobilised on French soil," he added.
The French crackdown means the owners are unable to, sell on or monetise their assets.
Notwithstanding, "they are not seized in the sense that the state becomes the owner and could then sell them on. For there to be seizure there has to be a penal offence", Le Maire stipulated.
"The sanctions are hitting Russia, the state, Vladimir Putin hard," Le Maire went on.
Since Russian 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 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.
Meanwhile, Germany has agreed a long-term energy partnership with Qatar as it looks to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, a spokeswoman for the economy ministry said on Sunday.
Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck secured the deal on a visit to Doha as part of efforts to diversify Germany's energy supply, according to his ministry.
The next step will be for the companies involved to "enter into the concrete contract negotiations", the spokeswoman said.
Habeck had held talks in Doha with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, one of the world's three biggest exporters of liquified natural gas (LNG).
European states are increasingly counting on LNG as a means of weaning themselves off Russian gas in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Ahead of his trip, which also includes a visit to the United Arab Emirates, Habeck told Deutschlandfunk radio that Germany had major concerns over securing supplies for next winter.