Скачать или смотреть Russia's response shocked Europe: the EU's attempt to seize $105 billion worth of assets backfired.

The European Union arrived at their December Brussels summit convinced they had found the perfect mechanism to seize two hundred and ten billion euros in frozen Russian Central Bank assets and transform them into collateral for Ukrainian military aid through an innovative "reparations loan," but what emerged after sixteen grueling hours of overnight negotiations was not European financial supremacy but comprehensive institutional humiliation and strategic retreat. Russia had spent three years since the initial asset freeze systematically preparing for exactly this scenario, launching an eighteen point two trillion ruble lawsuit against Euroclear seeking two hundred and twenty-nine billion dollars in damages while cataloguing one hundred and twenty-seven billion dollars in Western corporate assets within Russian jurisdiction for potential reciprocal seizure. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever correctly recognized that his country would bear unlimited financial liability if Russian lawsuits succeeded while other European Union members enjoyed Ukrainian financing benefits without sharing legal risks, forcing Belgium to demand "ironclad guarantees" that other member states refused to provide. The dramatic collapse of asset seizure plans in favor of traditional European Union budget-backed loans represents a strategic victory for Russian financial resistance and establishes a precedent that will influence future sanctions policy, as Russia successfully demonstrated how patient legal strategy combined with precise institutional targeting can neutralize supposed Western financial advantages and transform intended demonstrations of strength into illustrations of systemic vulnerability.