EU Moves to Lock €210 B Russian Assets via Article 122 Before Dec 18 Summit

Great-power conflicts have repeatedly led to asset seizures—Britain froze Iranian funds in 1952, the US locked $12 bn of Iranian reserves in 1979, and the Allies impounded German assets after 1945—but each case was later litigated or repaid, underscoring the legal minefield the EU is now entering. This maneuver reflects the 21st-century trend of weaponising the financial system (SWIFT bans, sanctions, reserve freezes) as a substitute for direct military escalation, accelerating the fragmentation of the post-Cold-War monetary order. If the eurozone is seen as willing to override sovereign-immunity norms whenever political winds shift, reserve-holding states may diversify further into gold, yuan, or crypto, echoing how sterling lost reserve-currency status after Britain’s 1931 devaluation. On a 100-year horizon the move matters less for the immediate €90 billion Ukraine loan than for whether it cements a precedent: that major powers’ reserves are no longer sacrosanct in rival blocs. Should that norm break permanently, the financial plumbing built since Bretton Woods (1944) may splinter into competing, sanction-proof networks—reshaping global capital flows long after the Russo-Ukrainian war fades from the front pages.