AFP, Brussels

EU countries, led by Belgium and Luxembourg, have frozen 18.9 billion euros of assets belonging to Russian oligarchs and entities hit by sanctions over the war on Ukraine, Brussels has said.

Belgium leads the way with 3.5 billion euros blocked, followed by Luxembourg with 2.5 billion, Italy with 2.3 billion and Germany with 2.2 billion, according to EU statistics seen by AFP Friday.

Ireland, Austria, France and Spain were the other members of the 27-country bloc to have frozen more than 1 billion euros each, according to data declared by November 25.

The European Union has imposed repeated waves of unprecedented sanctions against the Russian economy since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.

While some EU nations have reported large amounts targeted, others are lagging far behind.

Malta, a country that has run a controversial “golden passport” scheme for wealthy investors including Russians, is at the bottom of the list, with 146,558 euros blocked.

Greece is second to last with 212,201 euros.