Zhanna Nemtsova, who leads the Ideas for Russia project at the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that after the start of the full-scale war and the introduction of sanctions, the savings of millions of private investors were frozen because they had used Russian brokers and banks to buy foreign securities.
She said the issue does not primarily concern billionaires or people already on sanctions lists. Nemtsova identified three categories of blocked assets: Russian sovereign reserves estimated at about $280-330 billion, property belonging to sanctioned individuals, and the largest group, private assets frozen because of sanctions on parts of Russia’s financial infrastructure. According to her, the Central Bank of Russia had estimated the volume of such foreign assets held by retail investors at 1.14-2.9 trillion rubles.
Nemtsova said the problem has affected about 3.5 million Russian citizens and has mainly struck the middle class, including pension savings, education funds and money set aside for medical treatment. She referred to a survey of those affected showing that about 40% live outside Russia, mostly in EU countries.
“Freezing the assets of people who are not under sanctions solves no problem,” Nemtsova said, arguing that such measures do not help Ukraine and run against the principle of the inviolability of private property.
She criticized the current EU system of individual licenses for unfreezing assets as too costly and cumbersome: a guarantor alone costs at least 10,000 euros, while legal fees can be far higher. As an alternative, Nemtsova proposed identifying final beneficial owners, creating a simple electronic application process and setting strict deadlines for reviewing cases involving people who are not under sanctions.
She also spoke against restrictions imposed on Russians on the basis of citizenship alone, including account closures and barriers to participation in EU public contracts, and called for a more differentiated approach.