France has frozen assets worth up to 850 million euros, including yachts, apartments and bank accounts for the wealthy of the Russian ruling elite.
According to Arabiya Net, the French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said: We have frozen 150 million euros from personal accounts and credit lines in France in French institutions.
We have frozen real estate on French soil worth 539 million euros, equivalent to about thirty properties or apartments, and two yachts worth 150 million euros, according to AFP.< /p>
The total value of the assets that were frozen and owned by members of the Russian elite amounted to about 850 million euros on French soil.
Freezing property means, in practice, that owners can no longer use, sell or invest them. However, it does not mean, on the other hand, that it be confiscated by becoming state-owned, or disposing of it in any way, since the confiscation of assets requires the existence of a criminal offence.
Le Maire said that the sanctions are painful for the Russian state and painful for President Vladimir Putin, confirming the freezing of 22 billion euros from the assets of the Russian Central Bank.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Western countries have imposed several packages of economic sanctions, to which Russia has responded with counter-sanctions.
The Russian Central Bank said Friday that it is very difficult to make a macroeconomic forecast because of the sanctions. At the end of February, it doubled the interest rate to 20% from 9.5% previously.
