Reuters: Italy spent over 45 million euros storing Russians' money, yachts and cars
Italy's costs of holding seized Russian assets have exceeded 45 million euros, according to Reuters calculations based on data provided by Italian authorities.
According to official data, as of February 2024, the costs of maintaining the seized property reached 31.7 million euros. At the same time, the department refused to name the current amount, citing "state secrets."
Italy has frozen assets of Russian oligarchs totaling about 2.3 billion euros ($2.64 billion) since 2022. In June 2023, the Bank of Italy estimated the amount of blocked assets at $2.5 billion.
The total amount was not updated this month, but it is reported that by the end of 2024, the amount of frozen money in bank accounts alone reached 280 million euros, which is 44 million euros more than a year earlier.
Separately, Italian financial police in early June arrested the Iranian company Irital Shipping Lines, based in Milan, as well as two of its real estate properties with a total value of over 1 million euros.
Russian assets were frozen under EU sanctions imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions included bank accounts, luxury villas, yachts and cars.
The fate of the assets depends on the decision of the European Union. If Brussels decides to confiscate them, the Italian government must initiate the appropriate procedure.
If the assets are unfrozen, the owners will be able to return them only after reimbursement of the costs of their maintenance.
- On February 4, 2025, the head of European diplomacy, Kaia Kallas, stated that European allies should "creatively" use Russian frozen assets to help Ukraine.
- On May 2, Reuters wrote that the EU plans to transfer 3 billion euros of frozen Russian assets to Western investors.
- On May 14, it became known that in the first quarter of 2025, Euroclear earned 1.47 billion euros on frozen Russian assets.
