DISINFO: Western banks want to rob the Russian gold reserves
SUMMARY
If Western banks want to appropriate Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves, then the regionalisation of the global financial architecture will become irreversible.
Western banks that have frozen these (Russia's gold and foreign exchange) reserves are constantly saying that they are going to steal them. This is not theft. Theft is the secret stealing of property, and this is open; it is robbery.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that seeks to frame justified sanctions on Russia as an act of 'theft' or 'robbery' of Russian assets.
This disinformation message aims to deter the EU and other nations from seizing Russia's frozen assets to fund Ukraine's reconstruction.
In response to Russian aggression against Ukraine, the US, EU and several other countries froze about $300 billion in Russian assets deposited in Western banks.
The European Commission presented various options to member states to ensure that Russia is held accountable for its atrocities and crimes during the unjustified and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine. The discussions also covered financial mechanisms including establishing a structure to manage frozen Russian assets. This plan involves investing these assets and utilising the proceeds to benefit Ukraine in the short term.
Russian forces and their proxies have deliberately attacked and committed atrocities against civilians in Ukraine. They also destroyed expensive civilian infrastructure and committed other serious violations of international and humanitarian law. In light of this, Members of the European Parliament recognised Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state that “uses means of terrorism”.
As part of the EU sanctions on Russia, the Russian Central Bank assets held in the EU were immobilised. The prohibition on transactions related to the assets and reserves of the Central Bank of Russia and its affiliated entities leads to extraordinary and unusual accumulation of cash and deposits on the balance sheets of central securities depositories (CSDs) from maturing financial instruments and generates extraordinary revenue.
The extraordinary revenues generated in this context by the EU operators do not belong to Russia and are held by CSDs. The EU has started to channel these revenues to Ukraine. Following the proposals by the Commission and the High Representative in March, on 21 May 2024 the Council adopted a set of legal acts enabling the use of these net profits for the benefit of Ukraine. The EU has now started to channel these revenues to Ukraine.
On July 26, 2024, the EU made available in support of Ukraine the first payment of €1.5 billion generated from immobilised Russian assets, the 2nd transfer of €2,1 billion was in April 2025. These extraordinary revenues generated by EU operators and held by central securities depositories (CSDs) from immobilised Russian sovereign assets were made available by Euroclear to the Commission as a first instalment on 23 July. The money is channelled through the European Peace Facility and to the Ukraine Facility to support Ukraine's military capabilities as well as to support the country's reconstruction.
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