Can Washington Unfreeze Russia’s Reserves? The US Holds Just 2% of What Euroclear Does
Rubio and Lavrov reopened contact, but the U.S. holds about 2% of what Euroclear holds. Washington can offer Moscow sanctions relief; only Brussels can offer the reserves.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met at the UN General Assembly to discuss Ukraine and bilateral relations. The meeting reopened direct contact, but it cannot deliver the thing Moscow has said it will recover: its central-bank reserves in Europe. Lavrov said on September 15 that Russia would secure the return of its reserves frozen in the EU. The State Department readout summarises the meeting; Vedomosti’s report records Lavrov’s position.
The asymmetry is stark. Euroclear reported €202 billion in Russian-related sanctioned assets at the end of June, about $230 billion at the European Central Bank’s September 23 reference rate, and roughly 96% of the EU’s estimated €210 billion total. The U.S. Treasury directly freezes about $5 billion, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Washington controls about 2% of what Euroclear holds. Euroclear’s first-half report, the Council’s sanctions explainer and the Council on Foreign Relations provide the figures.
European law now locks the bulk in place. In December 2025 the EU Council prohibited transfers of the immobilised central-bank assets back to Russia, with no fixed end date: the measure lasts until Russia ends the war, compensates Ukraine and stops posing a serious economic risk to the bloc. Freezing blocks use and transfer; it does not hand ownership of the principal to the EU. The bloc then chose to fund Ukraine separately, agreeing on December 18 a €90 billion loan for 2026–27 financed by EU borrowing and backed by budget headroom. The regulation and European Council conclusions set out both.
What Washington can offer is different in kind. It controls the OFAC blocking sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil that took effect in November 2025, U.S. restrictions on Aeroflot’s access to parts and services, which Lavrov has asked Washington to lift, and Russian access to dollar payments. Those are levers over Russia’s trade and finance. They are not the reserves, which a U.S.–Russia agreement cannot move. The Treasury’s Rosneft and Lukoil action is the largest of those levers.
The next dated point on the reserves is European. The regulation requires the Commission to review it and report to the Council by December 31, 2026, and every 12 months after that. EU leaders also meet on October 15–16, though no decision on the assets is scheduled. The desk expects the December review to leave the immobilisation unchanged. Moscow’s diplomacy may reopen the Ukraine negotiation through Washington, but any change to the €202 billion has to come from Brussels.