German authorities freeze Russian assets worth over €4B

Such data was provided at a briefing by Nodjinan Niminde-Dundadengar, a spokesperson for the press service of the German Ministry of Finance, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

In Germany, in connection with Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine, as of early December, assets worth about €4.1 billion have been sanctioned, he said.

A representative of the agency explained that this is frozen money, economic resources of individuals, blocked money of the Russian central bank.

German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christian Wagner, in turn, recalled the G7 decision when its members agreed to make efforts to ensure that Russia pays for the reconstruction of Ukraine in the long term, for which they decided to freeze Russian state assets in accordance with the legal systems of the member states. To this end, a register of damage caused during the war was also launched, which Wagner called an important step.

In general, Berlin considers sanctions against the aggressor country to be very effective. According to Robert Severin, a representative of the German Ministry of Economy, one should not forget that sanctions are very diverse, many of them have an indirect effect, so they should not be underestimated. He also reminded that the 12th sanctions package had recently been approved and assured that there will be further packages, that the system will be expanded and developed, and that the shortcomings and opportunities for circumventing sanctions will be identified and blocked. Sanctions are a complex system that operates in its entirety, he added.

As reported, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office had filed a lawsuit to confiscate more than €720 million in Russian funds on the grounds of violation of the Foreign Trade Act.