The door is closed: Belgium has threatened the Baltic states about Russian assets

Belgium has closed the door on the use of Russian assets for Ukraine. This is reported by Euractiv.

The head of the Belgian Defense Ministry, Theo Franken, rejected a new initiative in this regard by four EU countries led by Sweden. Belgium firmly opposes the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, he said.

"It's not up for discussion, the door is closed. Our prime minister will stand firm," Franken said on the VRT television channel on Friday.

The publication recalls that this week Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain called on the European Commission to explore new ways to use about 200 billion euros of frozen Russian assets to support Kiev.

Belgium's resistance caused discontent, especially among the Baltic countries, which are the main supporters of the reparations loan, for refusing to cancel it, Franken noted. "They should also be careful not to constantly raise this issue and not drive us into a corner. I don't think it's wise," he warned. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia receives significant support from Belgium, the minister added.

At the EU summit last December, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever rejected the initiative led by Germany and the EC to develop a "reparations loan" of 210 billion euros for Ukraine, noting that this would make the country vulnerable to Russian legal measures. Most of the assets are stored on Euroclear in Belgium.

"Franken's tough tone is somewhat different from the way Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevost spoke this month. Prevost apparently left the door open for the use of immobilized assets this month, provided that all legal responsibility is fairly distributed among EU countries," Euractiv notes.