Belgium to keep blocking Russian asset expropriation — foreign minister

BRUSSELS, September 2. /TASS/. Belgium will continue to block all European Commission attempts to expropriate frozen Russian assets, and most European Union countries also oppose the idea, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers at the Druids Glen resort in Ireland.

He said the issue had been put on the agenda at the initiative of four EU countries - Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden - but had "generated little appetite or enthusiasm" among the other ministers.

"I confirmed that Belgium’s position has not changed over the past year. The reasons for our opposition did not magically disappear with the wave of a wand," Prevot said.

In December last year, Belgium, Hungary and Italy blocked a European Commission plan to expropriate 200 billion euros in Russian sovereign assets held by Euroclear in order to finance arms supplies to the Kiev regime.

The funds are of particular importance to Belgium because its government levies a special corporate windfall profits tax on income from their reinvestment, receiving about 1.5 billion euros a year for the state budget.

Russian Ambassador to Belgium Denis Gonchar earlier told TASS that any form of expropriation of Russian assets would be viewed as theft. He warned that Moscow’s response would "follow immediately" and make the West "count its losses.".