Belgium’s highest administrative court has struck down a government decision not to release the frozen assets of Russia’s BCS Bank. The authorities failed to establish a clear procedure for handling such requests and delegated responsibility to an agency with no legal authority to process them, the court, known as the Council of State, concluded.
The bank’s funds were frozen alongside Russia’s sovereign assets as part of EU sanctions imposed following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Kiev’s Western backers froze some $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets, with most held at Brussels-based depository Euroclear. BCS Bank’s funds were blocked because they had been placed with Euroclear through Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD), which was targeted by the restrictions.
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