€200 million in Russia assets frozen in Netherlands: DNB

Around 200 million euros in Russian money has been frozen in the Netherlands, Klaas Knot, president of Dutch central bank DNB, said to Nieuwsuur. The amount is much higher than the 6 million euros in frozen assets Minister Sigrid Kaag of Finance reported to parliament earlier this week.

The difference in the amounts is so large because the banks have not passed on all the details of frozen assets to the government yet, Knot said.

Belgium reported that it had frozen 10 billion euros in Russian assets. Knot does not expect the Netherlands will reach that amount. "That comparison with Belgium is not entirely fair. Belgium plays a much larger role in international payment transactions," he said to the current affairs program. Most Russian ties in the Netherlands are conducted through a trust office. "That is an administration office, but the assets are simply not located in the Netherlands. There is little to freeze here."

The Cabinet announced an emergency law that could ban Dutch trust offices from offering services to Russian clients. Trust offices are already taking steps to sever ties with Russia, given the European sanctions against the country over its invasion of Ukraine. De Nederlandsche Bank received about a hundred reports from trust offices about Russian assets frozen. But that doesn't yield "spectacular amounts," Knot said.