€632 million in Russian assets frozen in Netherlands

Dutch financial institutions have frozen over 632 million euros in Russian assets due to sanctions against the country. They also blocked a little over 274 million euros in financial transactions, Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Finance said in a letter to parliament.

Two weeks ago, the counter was still at 516 million euros in frozen assets. Other European countries have frozen more assets, like France, which froze 22 billion euros. The lion's share of this concerns Russian central bank assets.

Belgium has frozen about 10 billion euros. "This can be explained by the position that Belgium occupies in global securities trading and international payments," Hoekstra wrote.

The Minister denies that groups of sanctioned Russians are avoiding sanctions in the Netherlands. "Research and inquiry show that there does not appear to be any substantial unfrozen assets of sanctioned (legal) persons."