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Belgium Opposes Seizing Russian Assets, Says Moscow’s Defeat Is “a Fairy Tale”
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Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has argued that Russia will not lose the war in Ukraine, calling expectations of Moscow’s defeat “a fairy tale and a complete illusion.” He said that for this reason, frozen Russian assets will ultimately need to be returned to the Kremlin once the Russia’s war against Ukraine ends.
In an interview with La Libre published on December 3, De Wever also revealed that Russia has issued direct threats of “eternal retaliation” if Belgium supports the confiscation of its frozen assets.
The prime minister said Belgium is under “enormous pressure” regarding the debate over whether Russian sovereign funds should be seized and transferred to Ukraine. He continues to characterize such proposals as “theft.”
“Stealing the frozen assets of another country—its sovereign wealth funds—has never been done before. This is money belonging to the Central Bank of Russia. Even during the Second World War, German funds were not confiscated, only frozen,” he said.
De Wever added that, historically, a defeated state relinquishes assets voluntarily as part of a peace settlement. But he suggested this would not apply in the current war, arguing that Russia is not losing—and that a defeat for a nuclear-armed country could be destabilizing.
“Who genuinely believes that Russia is losing in Ukraine? Russia is not losing. That is a fairy tale, an illusion. And it is even undesirable for them to lose, so instability does not emerge in a nuclear power,” he said.
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He further claimed the Kremlin directly warned Brussels that any move to confiscate assets would lead to serious and lasting consequences.
“Who believes that Putin would calmly accept the confiscation of Russian assets? Moscow has made it clear that if that happens, Belgium—and I personally—will face the consequences ‘forever.’ That seems like quite a long time,” De Wever said.
Politico recently published an analysis explaining why Belgium has been so adamant about retaining control over Russia’s frozen assets. According to the outlet, Belgium’s resistance may have more practical motivations than fears of Russian “retaliation.” EU officials suspect that Belgium has been keeping the revenues generated from these assets for itself rather than transferring them to Ukraine.
Earlier, it was reported that The European Commission is urgently crafting a legal solution to address Belgium’s concerns over using frozen Russian assets to provide a loan to Ukraine.
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