On November 26, Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken said the country had convinced Italy that the hoarding of frozen Russian assets could carry "extremely serious" risks.
On social network X, Mr. Francken sent a decisive message to partners in the European Union (EU). He affirmed that Belgium will continue to support Ukraine, but will not change its stance on the issue of assets.
" without European guarantees against litigation and a request for a refund, Belgium will not confiscate Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine," he wrote.
He stressed that there are too many potential risks in this plan that the EU has not yet addressed. Notably, he revealed a change in the alliance: "Now, Italy also understands that". The additional consensus from Italy - one of the EU's largest economies - will give Belgium more weight to counter the pressure from the European Commission (EC).
The reason Belgium is being cautious is because they are managing a Russian frozen asset warehouse. The majority of the 210 billion euros in frozen Russian sovereign assets are at the Brussels-based international storage platform Euroclear.
Belgium fears that if it implements the seizure, it will become the only target to bear all the legal and financial retaliation from Moscow, while other countries are "as weak as a loan".
Previously, Russian Ambassador to Belgium Denis Gonchar warned that any display of property in any form would be considered a "theft". The Russian diplomat threatened that Moscow's retaliation would come "immediately" and forced the West to recalculate its losses.
This new development continues to complicate the EU's financial problem. At the summit on October 23, Belgium alone blocked the European Commission's plan to use Russian assets to provide Kiev with a "compensation loan". Brussels requires a mechanism to share financial risks with all member countries.
By convincing Italy to come their side, Belgium is creating a major barrier ahead of the December summit, where the European Commission hopes to finalize a funding plan for Ukraine for the 2026-2027 period.
