Czech government to freeze all Russian state assets
Czechia plans to freeze all Russian state assets on its territory, the country's government supported on Wednesday the corresponding proposal of Jan Lipavský, the Czech Foreign Minister.
The institution's head Petr Fiala reported this on his X account.
"Today the government has decided to freeze Russian state assets. This means that Russia will not be able to dispose of real estate owned by a Russian state institution. The property cannot be transferred or sold. Russia will not be allowed to use bank accounts that receive rent for this property," the Prime Minister said.
He added that Prague will insist that other countries take similar steps.
Vláda dnes rozhodla, že bude zmražen ruský státní majetek.
To znamená, že Ruská federace nebude moci nakládat s nemovitostmi, které vlastní ruská vládní agentura. Majetek nebude možné převést ani prodat. Bankovní účty, na které chodí nájemné za tyto nemovitosti, nebude smět… pic.twitter.com/a3pXZ6t1d9
— Petr Fiala (@P_Fiala) November 15, 2023
Lipavsky also proposed to freeze Russian assets, noting the war in Ukraine has so far been financed, among other entities, by real estate revenues.
This decision was welcomed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Czechia has just frozen all Russian state assets. I applaud this principled step and thank my counterpart and friend @JanLipavsky. All countries that haven't yet done so should follow suit. Russian money should be used for Ukraine's recovery instead of murder and destruction. https://t.co/7ReaTIj3xc
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) November 15, 2023
At a press conference after the government meeting, Lipavsky informed that the Russian federal enterprise for managing assets abroad, Goszagrannosobstvennost, was included in the "sanctions" list.
"The commercial activities of this entity are now illegal, and all of its assets will be frozen after being included in the sanctions list," he said.
The company, which is directly subordinated to the Kremlin, manages a large part of the buildings owned by the Russian state in the Czech Republic. (But this measure should not affect Russian diplomats. Their buildings, i.e., embassies, diplomatic residences, etc., are protected). The Czech Republic will also demand that this company be included in the European sanctions list.
So far, Czechia has frozen more than 415 million euros worth of sanctioned assets.
